Mikal Bridges delivered on both ends of the floor for the Knicks in Monday’s win over Atlanta.
He had 26 points on 17 shots and ten of his 26 came in a pivotal 14-4 run to start the second half.
Bridges was also the primary defender on Trae Young on a night when Young had nine turnovers and missed 14 of 22 shots.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau was impressed with Bridges’ defense on Young.
“He’s such a tough cover and there’s a million pick-and-rolls you have to defend,” Thibs said after the win. “Sometimes you can defend them really well and he can make [a shot]. So I thought he was really disciplined. You have to be that. And he kept going.”
Bridges also had four assists in one of his most complete performances as a Knick. He rebounded well from a difficult night on Friday against Minnesota and Anthony Edwards.
“He was our point of attack defender and he did a great job today. He started and everything kind of trickled down,” said Josh Hart.
Bridges’ play has been dissected closely this season – his first as a Knick. Fans and media are correctly holding Bridges to a high standard because of the significant price New York paid to acquire him from Brooklyn.
Bridges seems to be unaffected by the noise and/or added pressure that comes with his new role.
“That’s what I’m here for,” he said when asked about guarding the opponent’s lead ball handler every game. “That’s what I get paid for. And like I always said, I got my teammates behind me so it’s never just me against that guy. So it’s just team defense and try my best to try to disrupt.”
Speaking of team defense, Bridges pointed out that Karl-Anthony Towns did well on Monday by playing further up against Atlanta’s pick-and-rolls. Towns has been playing in drop coverage for significant stretches of this season.
“That’s one thing – KAT, you know, he’s been the 4 for a while and been on the perimeter playing with Rudy [Gobert],” Bridges said. “… Him being up helps the team’s defense and helps the guy on the ball getting back.”
The Knicks had lost three of their past four home games prior to Monday’s win. They had also lost six of nine overall and were 0-2 against the Hawks. A loss on Monday would have been demoralizing for the fans and the locker room.
“We did a lot of good things today and things that we can build on. But we have to build on them,” said Jalen Brunson. “We can’t say that we want to build on them and then take steps back. But I think even if obviously we lose but we’re still building the right habits we can live with that. We’ve got to continue to create the right habits.”
BRUNSON ADJUSTS
Brunson did well against Atlanta and Dyson Daniels on Monday. He’d gone a combined 13-for-31 in the Knicks’ first two games against the Hawks. Daniels was his primary defender. But he was excellent on Monday, scoring 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting. Daniels was in foul trouble all game and fouled out in the fourth quarter. As Hart pointed out, the Knicks made an important adjustment on Monday.
“I think we were able to get him a little bit more off the ball, not have him bring the ball up [so often],” Hart said. “Sometimes, when he brings the ball up, it wastes about 5-6 seconds and then it takes a couple seconds to get into something.
“So now we got 12 seconds to really go out there and execute. And we can’t play that way. So I think we were able to get him off the ball a little more, getting him moving a little bit more. And then he was able to make reads and we played our game.”
ROTATION CHANGE
Nine Knicks played at least 10 minutes against the Hawks. Landry Shamet was back in the rotation after being out in recent games. Is this the sign of a new rotation from Thibodeau? We’ll find out more on Tuesday when the Knicks play Brooklyn.
Bridges played just 27 minutes against Atlanta.
OG Anunoby played 41 minutes, four more than his season average. Thibodeau was asked about Anunoby’s health this season and pointed out that Brunson and Towns are both playing 35 minutes or fewer per game.
“When you look at what’s being asked of [Anunoby], he’s a primary defender [with] versatility so I think that you condition your body to what you want to do,” Thibodeau said. “So it’s a credit to him [for] what he did in the offseason. The same can be said for Josh and Mikal. When you look at Jalen and KAT, their average minutes are well below what most primary scorers’ are and that’s a credit to them.”
Both Brunson and Towns rank outside of the top 20 in minutes per game. Bridges, Hart and Anunoby are all in the top seven.
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