BOSTON — Maybe the NBA needs two Clutch Player of the Year awards. If it did, the Knicks might already have both.
Because as essential as Jalen Brunson has been with the game on the line, Mikal Bridges has matched him — one stop at a time.
Bridges delivered his second game-sealing defensive play of the series on Wednesday, helping the Knicks take a 2-0 lead over the Celtics.
In Game 1, he stripped the ball from Jaylen Brown on Boston’s final possession and flung it into the air as the buzzer sounded to seal a 108-105 victory.
Then in Game 2, it happened again. After Jayson Tatum weaved into the lane and retreated to escape Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby, Bridges rotated over, poked the ball free, and once again heaved it high as time expired — clinching one-point win and a decisive lead over the defending champs.
“That’s what he does. We got the Clutch Player of the Year in the NBA, and we’ve possibly got one of the most clutch defenders in the NBA as well,” said Karl-Anthony Towns. “It’s only right that for all the talk people have done about Mikal, it’s when the lights were the brightest that he gets to show his worth.”
There are no stats for that — for clutch defense. The league only tracks late-game offense. But the Knicks were built to go against the grain. They make the kind of winning plays that don’t always show up in the numbers.
“Yeah people always talk about offensive runs, you can go on defensive runs as well. You also go on rebounding runs,” said head coach Tom Thibodeau. “Josh [Hart] is a prime example; he has two or three rebounds then he has four or five in a row, so it’s like making shots. So I think whatever it takes for us to win. Karl had the big and-one. Mikal with timely baskets, Jalen with timely baskets. Josh with his hustle, Mitch all over the floor, switching, guarding, great impact. But that’s a team working together.”
Bridges may be the embodiment of that concept. In what he hates has become typical fashion, the Knicks forward entered the fourth quarter scoreless — then scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the final frame.
“I feel like I’m pretty mentally strong, but it was wearing on me a little bit, just missing shots,” Bridges said. “It’s really just missing shots that’s affecting us. I’m trying to win a game and missing is not gonna help us. So it just hurt me to help make my team lose at that moment.”
He credits his toughness to his upbringing — and the foundation set at Villanova.
“Just how I was raised. My mom is real strong, mentally tough. Growing up, my mom just made me like that going through experiences,” he said. “Going through college with coach [Jay] Wright at Villanova — he preached mental toughness and I think that really brought it out of me. I had it growing up but I think college made it even more established. It’s just who I am.”
That toughness is what the Knicks lean on most. Bridges needed it the moment he arrived — after the Knicks sent five first-round picks to Brooklyn, a price that instantly brought scrutiny. He needed it when his shot dipped during stretches of the regular season. And he needed it as the team’s primary point-of-attack defender, often left to answer for defensive lapses that weren’t his fault.
Now, in the playoffs, that toughness is surfacing in ways the box score can’t capture.
“One of the things I really respect about him is that he’s a winner. He just keeps marching forward,” Thibodeau said. “He doesn’t get too high and he doesn’t get too low. He’s a great competitor. Find ways to help us win. If your shot’s not dropping, play great defense, move without the ball, put the ball on the floor. I felt he had some fast break baskets in the second half that helped us as well.”
“When Mitch forced him inside the line, I went and took him and Mikal made an amazing play,” added Anunoby. “I love it, it’s winning plays. It’s what we need to win. He’s amazing.”
