Mikal Bridges couldn’t find the bottom of the net with a GPS and a magnifying glass — until someone lit a fire under him.
Bridges shot 1-of-10 through the first three quarters of Game 4 against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday including 0-of-6 in the second quarter alone.
“I was playing pretty s–tty in the first half, and the first three quarters,” he admitted at his locker after the game. “So I was just trying to get it right.”
Bridges went on to make a pair of threes in the fourth quarter to help turn an 11-point deficit into a three-point game with 6:34 to go.
“A lot of things weren’t going our way, shots weren’t falling,” he said. “Just found a way to win, that’s the most important thing.”
The star Knicks forward acquired in a five draft-pick deal with the Nets last summer credited his teammates for helping him snap free from his slump.
“[They are] just keeping me locked in. I know I’m fine and I know it’s gonna come, but they just kept telling me, ‘keep shooting it,’” Bridges said after the game. “They keep giving me confidence to go out there. Just try to be aggressive, try to make the right play, make the shot since I was playing pretty s–tty in the first half, and the first three quarters, so I was just trying to get it right.”
The loudest voice chirping, cursing, and pushing him back into rhythm?
“I think the biggest is Cam Payne,” Bridges said. “He’s big on voicing, helping me out.”
Payne, who’s known and been good friends with Bridges since their Phoenix Suns days, is never afraid to jab a teammate when necessary.
“Sometimes, him calling me some not good names helps, as well,” Bridges said with a smile. “It just feeds off that. But it’s everybody, man. I swear it’s everybody. Even Josh [Hart], JB [Jalen Brunson], when we’re on the court, they just tell me to stick with it. It’s not fun missing, and you wait for that next opportunity to shoot again and I appreciate those guys, always.”
Payne wasn’t shy about his halftime approach, though he only offered the watered-down version of his message to Bridges.
“The PG version? ‘Make some damn shots,’” he said, laughing. “I can’t say [what I told him] on tape, but just know I was giving him a hard time. That’s how we fight through things. The accountability factor. I can go up to him and tell him anything and he respects it — and he does the same thing to me.”
Payne said he normally tries to spark Bridges earlier in games — partly to lift his teammate, partly to juice himself up before he enters with the second unit.
“Most of the time, it be like — first quarter, I be tryna find a way to get him going to get me going,” he said. “He’ll get me going with energy, so when we [the second unit] come out there, we got energy, too. We kind of fight each other for energy.”
Despite his early struggles, Bridges ultimately delivered when it mattered most. He finished with eight points on 3-of-12 shooting (2-of-6 from deep), added three steals, and played one of his most impactful defensive games of the season.
“I just told him to keep being aggressive,” Payne said. “I feel like stats always come around, and he made some of the biggest shots for us and kind of got us back in the game. He wasn’t shooting well before that, but just knowing that people trust him — the confidence we give him on the bench, that boost — it translates to the game. He hit some big shots and kept us alive. The little things matter.”
DEFENSE STILL WINS
The biggest little thing came with under a minute left, when Bridges stripped Cade Cunningham — preserving a one-point Knicks lead.
“He’s able to be disruptive. He’s able to make plays. It’s just who he is,” Brunson said after the game. “He’s had that ability since I can remember, back in our Villanova days, trying not to let our offense dictate how we’re playing. So he brought that over today, and he was very effective. We have the utmost confidence in him, regardless of what’s going on throughout the game.”
Bridges has drawn the toughest defensive assignments all season in Year 1 with the Knicks. The results have been mixed — expected when you guard All-Star scorers nightly — but what’s never wavered is his effort and relentlessness.
“I think for the entire season, it’s been a steady climb for him. He’s always had that ability. He’s always been a very good defensive player,” said head coach Tom Thibodeau. “He’s got great length and anticipation. He knows how to challenge shots. He can get to the second and third efforts. When you have long limbs like that, it makes the defense a lot better. I think that’s what’s causing a lot of turnovers — if the ball pressure is strong, we can get out in passing lanes, get some turnovers, get into the open floor, and fuel our offense.”
