Barbara Barker: Knicks' Mikal Bridges needs to find scoring touch, and soon
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson drives on Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Friday in Indianapolis. Credit: AP/Michael Conroy
INDIANAPOLIS — It should have been easy.
The Knicks headed into the final game of their five-game road trip needing just to beat a Pacers team that entered Friday night’s game on an 11-game losing streak in order to call the trip, at least statistically, a success.
The Knicks opened the trip with arguably their best win of the season, destroying Denver 142-103. The Knicks then went 0-2 against the Lakers and the Clippers in Los Angeles before waking up in the second half of their game in Utah to beat a 20-win Jazz team.
Against the Pacers — who have the worst record in the league — the Knicks felt comfortable enough that they were able to hold out two of their starters, Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, who both have knee issues and were downgraded from questionable to doubtful Friday afternoon.
The fact they were on the bench should have opened up opportunities for other Knicks, and no one needed those opportunities more than Mikal Bridges.
Bridges, who has struggled since the All-Star break, has been brutal on the first four games of this road trip, scoring nine, zero, seven and five points. That’s an average of 5.3 points on 29% shooting. Dating back to the All-Star break, Bridges has shot 41.7% from the field and 32.6% from the three-point line, averaging just 10.8 points. (He was at 15.9 points, 50.4%/38.6% before the break).
“I think just it’s the game of basketball,” Bridges said after going scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting against the Lakers. “Sometimes you try to get open and sometimes it doesn’t find me. Just try to find ways to stay aggressive. That’s it.”
Through 67 games, Bridges is averaging 15.0 points, which if it holds up would be his lowest scoring season since he averaged 14.2 points in Phoenix in his second year in the league.
It’s true that Bridges' opportunities have dropped. Coach Mike Brown loves what Landry Shamet can bring off the bench and has given him more minutes, especially in close games, in place of Bridges and Hart.
Bridges is used to being scrutinized by the Knicks faithful, simply because the team traded a plethora of draft picks to get him from the Nets. Yet, every time fans seem to be ready to write off Bridges, he comes up with huge plays like the ones he had in the playoffs last year which were pivotal in the Knicks eliminating the Celtics.
Jalen Brunson, whose relationship with Bridges dates back to when they were teammates at Villanova, isn’t worried.
“It’s part of the game of basketball,” Brunson said. “There’s going to be times when you have great stretches. There’s going to be times when the ball is not going through the hoop. I think for us as teammates to have each other’s backs. Us as individuals continue to do the things that put us in positions to be successful. Continue to support each other and continue to be who we are. Don’t try to change too much. Maybe pick it up a little bit when you’re doing your individual stuff to get in a game rhythm. But stick to your routine, stick to it with your work. Just keep believing.
“Tell him to keep shooting,” Brunson added. “Tell him to keep playing. He’s out there. So he has to continue to be who he is.”
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
