Less than twelve hours after he expressed concerns over the amount of minutes the starters were getting, Mikal Bridges put his jump shot where his mouth was. His last-second three pointer propelled the New York Knicks to a 114-113 overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers. For the game, Bridges dropped 33 points and went 2-4 from downtown.
Make no mistake, the Knicks were 3.4 seconds away from what would've been an extremely disappointing loss to a 10th place Portland team. And with the Golden State Warriors coming up on Saturday, they were facing the very real prospect of going 1-4 on this road trip. Now, thanks to Bridges, they have a chance at a winning road trip.
Let's face it: the man Leon Rose surrendered five first-round draft picks for over the summer, with a few notable exceptions, has been underwhelming in his first year in a Knicks uniform. With their captain Jalen Brunson sidelined with an ankle injury for the next few weeks, his teammates could ill afford another nondescript showing by him.
Forget about the draft picks for a moment, Bridges simply hasn't been the player the Knicks thought they were getting when they made the trade. While he's always been known for his defense, it's his offense that has been, well, offensive a good chunk of the season. Against the L.A. Lakers, he took just six shots and scored only 6 points. Against the Miami Heat, he went 2-11 and scored 5. Against the Milwaukee Bucks, he went 2-5 with 6 points. And against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he was held scoreless on 0-9 shooting. For a player with this much talent not to be more of a factor offensively is simply unacceptable, especially on a team with a bench as thin as the Knicks.
Which makes his comments yesterday morning all the more curious. Not that they weren't spot on, mind you. Indeed, I give Bridges credit for saying the quiet part out loud. The worst kept secret this side of the Milky Way Galaxy is that head coach Tom Thibodeau has a history of running his starters into the ground, or court, if you prefer. But it's not like Thibs has Payton Pritchard and De'Andre Hunter coming off the bench. On a good night, Deuce McBride, Precious Achiuwa, Mitchell Robinson and Cam Payne might combine for 25 points. And that's on a good night. Most nights it's closer to 15. Pritchard and Hunter are averaging 14 and 18 points respectively.
But while Thibs is correct in saying that against elite players like LeBron James and Jayson Tatum, the starters are going to have to play 40 plus minutes per game, what about against a player like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? When the Knicks played the Thunder in January, SGA logged only 37 minutes. Yet all five Knick starters were over 40. When three of your players are among the league's top six in minutes played, that's no accident; it is the direct result of the coach's philosophy.
It should be noted that in that game in OKC, the Knicks were ahead 97-92 with 6:10 left in the 4th quarter before the Thunder rallied to win 117-107. Against the Lakers, New York blew a 10 point, 4th quarter lead and lost in OT. This has been a familiar theme for the Knicks all season long: a failure to put opponents away because the starters simply run out of gas late in the game.
If this is happening during the regular season, what do you think will happen once the playoffs begin? As of now, the Knicks likely first-round opponent will be either the Detroit Pistons or the Indiana Pacers. The former should be fairly easy to beat, but the latter represents a much tougher challenge. The Pacers have a deep bench and are one of the quickest transition teams in the NBA; just the kind of opponent that can push a team like the Knicks to the brink. It's one thing to lose to the champion Boston Celtics in the second round. But if this team should lose in the first round, Thibs will have some serious splainin' to do, I can assure you.
And that's why for the good of the team, Thibs must force himself to do something he's not comfortable doing: play the long game. Putting his starters on a minutes restriction might cost him a win or two during the balance of the regular season, but if it means they have more gas in the tank when the playoffs roll around, it could be the difference between a deep run or an early exit.
As for Bridges, last night's performance can't be a one-off. He has to assert himself more. Until Brunson comes back, he and Karl Anthony Towns will have to carry the bulk of the offensive load. While OG Anunoby is certainly capable of scoring 20 plus points now and then, that's not his principal role on this team. Josh Hart, like OG, is also capable of contributing to the offense, but as we saw last night, when his shot is off, it's REALLY off.
This is Mikal Bridges' moment to shine; his opportunity to silence all the critics who think he's overrated and that Rose was stupid to give up all that draft capital for him. He doesn't have to score 30 every game, but the nights of him taking only six shots have got to stop.
To quote Shakespeare, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have it thrust upon them."
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