Enigmatic, bordering on incomprehensible: the start of the season for Mikal Bridges, a big new addition to the Knicks jersey together with Towns, was like this. Thibodeau keeps him on the court 38 minutes a night, more than anyone in New York (more than anyone in the league!) but his three-point shooting (with the mechanics rebuilt in the summer) seems to have abandoned him. As well as a bit of confidence: fewer penetrations, free throw percentages at their lowest ever. However, during the night he scored 31, his season high: and from here he can restart his season
Era ended up on the bench in the decisive moments of the fourth quarter of his Knicks’ last game, against Charlotte. He was already over it on the Jazz fieldlast November 23rd. It is no coincidence that the two worst performances, figures in hand, of Mikal Bridges since he’s been in New York (7 points with 3/15 shooting in Utah, 8 with 3/10 against the Hornets). For this reason i 31 points – his season high – scored in the victory against New Orleans are a important signal by the former Nets player, who quickly ended up in the midst of a thousand controversies after just twenty games of his first year in blue-orange. “I have to do better – he said before the match against the Pelicans – I’ve been too inconsistent”. And he did better, shooting 12/19 from the field and even 7/12 from three, despite not even making a trip to the field. bezel (where he shot during the season only 13 free throws, scoring 8, a 61.5% which perhaps reflects a lack of mental tranquilitygiven that over 84% travel during their careers). He certainly doesn’t lack the trust of coach Thibodeau, who has kept him on the pitch so far Exactly 38 minutes in the evening, more than any other player in the NBAbut Bridges’ performances have not always rewarded his coach’s choices.
Between highs (the two-point shot) and lows (the three-point shot)
It’s hard to find meaning in the season of the Knicks’ No. 25. Right from the start, when he showed up at training camp with one shooting mechanics completely changed (and very strange to look at). First results: Bridges is at a career low in three-point percentage (just above 33%, he is shooting above 37% in his career), but in his two-point jump shots he is keeping an excellent 58.3% (2nd best in the NBA) and among those who shoot as much as him from mid-range (50 attempts in the season) only Jalen Williams does better than his 56% of realization. On the other hand he goes to the rim much less than in the past e defensively he is often the target – him, who in 2022 came in second place for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award – of the opposing forwards, who block in attack to be able to isolate themselves against him more than 25 times per game (the highest figure not only this year, but since 2022) and they get 1.14 points per possession, a figure that supports the attacks and condemns Bridges. Which however, right in his attack – with i 31 points given to the Pelicans – may have found the turning point of a difficult season so far. To be the extra valuable piece added to the roster by the Knicks to make the last one leap in quality.
