At least Mikal Bridges gets a few days out of New York.
In a 109-108 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series, the Knicks wing posted a stat line — a 0-1-2 (or zero points, one rebound and two assists) with four turnovers — that will live in infamy if his team cannot come back from a 2-1 deficit in the best-of-seven set. Heck, they might name a 0-1-2 after him.
It’s hard for Bridges to make so little impact in 20 minutes of a high-stakes playoff game, if only because we know how talented he is. He averaged 14.4 points (on 49/37/83 shooting splits), 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists (against just one turnover) per game in the regular season. Through the first two games of this series, a 1-1 split in Madison Square Garden, his scoring average was down to 10.5 points (on 42/30/100).
But things went from worse to abominable on Thursday, when he missed all three of his shot attempts — a pair of corner 3-pointers and a wide-open 12-foot turnaround. He did not attempt a shot after the five-minute mark of the second quarter. Worse: He somehow finished -26 over 20 minutes of a game the Knicks lost by a single point.
To be fair, he only played five minutes of the second half. He sat on the bench for the final 9:48 of the third quarter, returned for the start of the fourth, only to be benched again at the 9:25 mark of the final frame. He did return as a defensive specialist for Atlanta’s final possession — a play that ended in CJ McCollum’s game-winning shot.
It bears mentioning again: In a game in which Karl-Anthony Towns and Deuce McBride finished +22 and +16, respectively, Bridges was -26. That last bit, about McBride, led to a postgame question for Knicks head coach Mike Brown: Would he consider replacing Bridges with McBride in the starting lineup moving forward?
“I mean, I’m not even thinking about that right now, you know?” said Brown, whose team plays Game 4 in Atlanta on Saturday. “But, in the same breath, I’ve said it before, like you said: We have to look at everything. But I’m thinking still about the game and what we could have done better and all that other stuff before getting into that.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Bridges, who the Knicks infamously acquired in exchange for five first-round draft picks in July 2024. The absence of those assets is one reason why Giannis Antetokounmpo is not currently a member of the Knicks. The concern level has to be an an all-time high in New York, right? Right? RIGHT?!?!
“I’m not concerned about him,” Brown said of Bridges. “The way the game was being played, the different runs we made and the different combinations I threw out there, I just went with what I felt the game called for at that time. So, I’m not concerned. Mikal’s a pro. He’s been there. He’s played in hundreds of basketball games. So, he’ll be fine. But this is what the game called for, and that’s what I went with.”
The questions came harder for Bridges.
Is it hard to balance what you’re doing defensively when your shot isn’t falling?
“I just try to play well on both ends,” he said. “That’s really it.”
Is it hard not to be out there for clutch moments?
“For sure,” he said. “But I’ve just got to be better so I can be out there.”
What do you think caused the turnovers?
“Just a bad turnover day for me,” he said. “I’ve just got to clean it up. That’s on me.”
What didn’t go well, exactly?
“My turnovers,” he said.
How do you bounce back?
“There’s no other way,” said Bridges. “There’s another game, another opportunity. This is a tough one. I’ve got to take it on the chin. Handle it how I’m supposed to and be ready for the next one. It’s gonna suck. It is what it is. But I’ve just got to be better to help my team out there.”
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