CHARLOTTE – After another ride on the struggle bus for Mikal Bridges on Friday afternoon — which included the guard being benched for most of the fourth quarter of a nip-and-tuck Knicks victory — he pledged, “I’ll be better” as teammates and coach forcefully went to bat for the embattled guard.
“I’m not worried about [Bridges],” Josh Hart said. “I think the media and people are killing him. He’s in a new situation. He’s in a situation where he’s played 19 games in a different role that he’s played the last four years. So it’s our job to get him going. And all the other BS about what we gave up [the five first-round picks to the Nets], it means nothing.
“If we win, if we get a championship, ain’t nobody give a damn about how many picks we gave up. We could’ve given up 15 picks, it don’t matter. At the end of the day, we’re trying to win a championship. He’s going to be a key piece of that.”
Bridges, largely a two-way disappointment this season, managed eight points on 3-for-10 shooting and was only used by Tom Thibodeau for three defensive possessions in the final 8 ½ minutes.
It was the second time Bridges was pulled down the stretch in the past four games, as Thibodeau closed Friday with Miles McBride in the backcourt. The Knicks (11-8) quickly went on a run without Bridges and pulled off the comeback victory to finish 3-2 on their road trip.
“I got to play better. I’ve been inconsistent,” said Bridges, who entered Friday averaging 15.9 points on 31 percent shooting from 3 while leading the NBA in minutes. “I’ve had some games where I’ve played good, some I haven’t. Just got to find a rhythm within the team. That’s pretty much it. Not even 20 games in, still just trying to figure it out.”
Thibodeau said he stuck with McBride down the stretch Friday because he was “fresh,” “making shots” and “we were sort of in the mud.”
Bridges, who was also benched in last week’s defeat to the Jazz, said Thibs “made the right decision” again.
“Go out there and win the game. That’s the biggest thing, just win the game,” Bridges said. “But yeah, obviously, I got to play better. With the opportunities I get, I got to convert.
“I had a lot of sloppy turnovers. Couple of times [where the opponent] scored on me getting into the middle. I’ll be better.”
The end of the first half was symbolic of the disappointment. With 1.1 seconds remaining following a Hornets bucket, the Knicks only had to throw the ball into the ground to hit halftime. Instead, Bridges threw a pass directly into the hands of Charlotte’s Josh Green, who buried a jumper at the buzzer for a 49-46 advantage.
“I say this all the time — look, Mikal’s going to be fine,” Thibodeau assured. “If he were a rookie, I would be worried because you don’t know who the rookie is really. There’s not a body of work. We know Mikal has a body of work.”
Even though Bridges hasn’t acknowledged his offensive role shift as an issue, there’s been a clear adjustment to going from the No. 1 option with Brooklyn to a distant No. 3 or even No. 4 with the Knicks. His aggression and confidence have taken a clear hit, with Bridges’ reluctance to drive for contact evident by the lack of free-throw attempts (averaging fewer than one per game).
It’s enough of an issue that Hart said the team would confer for a solution.
“We need to continue to build him up,” Hart said. “If you go out there and nitpick everything that he does, that’s only a detriment to him.
“So we’re all going to have a conversation about that. We all got to get him going. And that’s when we’ll get the best version of Mikal. It’s 19 games into the season. He’s a helluva player. He’s been to the Finals. He knows how to win. So we can calm down with all the criticism and nitpicking a guy who has won every time he stepped on the court in any situation. And a lot of people can’t do what he does.”
Jalen Brunson, who was also Bridges’ teammate in college, added, “He’s one of us. We don’t leave anyone on an island.”
