Knicks coach Mike Brown is keeping Mikal Bridges in the starting lineup ... for now. But is that the right call?
Mikal Bridges of the Knicks looks on during the first half against the Milwaukee Bucks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Mike Brown kept his word, avoiding any panic moves just 11 games into the season and putting the same starting lineup on the floor in Indiana as the Knicks faced a shorthanded Pacers squad.
And that’s, well, good?
One of the things that the Knicks have relied on as they attempt to defend their NBA title — not to mention the NBA Cup championship they are defending and were seeking their first win in pool play Friday night — is familiarity, returning nearly the entire rotation from last season.
But the Knicks have not yet looked much like last year’s team. It’s not so much wins and losses. While Wednesday’s loss to Cleveland was disappointing, the Knicks had won six of seven before that and they were hardly a machine in the regular season last year even on their way to the title.
Brown has insisted since he took the job that he wouldn’t chase a regular-season win at the cost of the big picture and that is still what he was sticking to as he resisted making a rash move. The biggest question, as it often has been, was the play of Mikal Bridges, who has struggled through the first 11 games and seen his minutes drastically cut even as he held onto the starting honors.
But it’s not just Bridges. The Knicks, as a team, haven’t shot the ball well. Other than Karl-Anthony Towns, there has been inconsistency. Jalen Brunson hasn’t played up to his NBA Finals MVP form, although he’s certainly been a huge factor as usual. OG Anunoby has struggled offensively. Josh Hart missed three games — two with ankle soreness and then one with an illness — before returning Wednesday.
Brown was asked Wednesday night if he was happy with where the team was offensively and he said, “No, not yet. Not yet. At times, yes, but we're not always in a good flow right now, which is fine, because there are other ways to win a basketball game while we're trying to work on that.”
Rotations have remained in flux for the Knicks with Landry Shamet outplaying Bridges and at times, Deuce McBride doing it, too. Tyler Kolek has claimed backup point guard minutes ahead of Jose Alvarado.
“Part of it [is] we got two guys that are playing really well in Landry and Deuce, and so it's hard,” Brown said. “It's going to be hard to find minutes at times, for Mikal, you know, and maybe even at times for Josh, you know, because those two guys are playing at a pretty high level, not just on offensive floor, but defensively, too. I mean this is one of our, quote unquote, worst defensive games overall that we've had in the past five or six games. We've been playing really well at that end of the floor, but they got loose tonight, and Landry and Deuce have been a big part of what we've done defensively. So if they're playing at a high level, I got to keep trying to find ways to get those guys on the floor.”
The thing is, nothing is permanent. Brown expressed no desire to make a change now, but there are no assurances that it won’t come at some point. And if they pulled Bridges from the starting lineup it doesn’t have to be forever. Right now, he’s struggling, the bench players are playing well, and maybe Bridges would benefit from playing alongside some of the bench pieces. He’s played well in lineups including Kolek, a pass-first point guard, which would require more scoring from Bridges.
Bridges has shrugged off the talk and on Friday morning he told reporters, “I just look in the mirror, I just got to be better. Nobody else to blame but me and I just got to go out there and, whatever it is, just be better and go harder.”
Bridges scored a pair of quick baskets early Friday night, including one in which he ran the floor and took a feed from Brunson for a layup — supporting what Brown had said last week, noting that Bridges is as good of a runner as there is in the league and needs to take advantage of that when other things aren’t working, like the 26.5% three-point shooting he brought into Friday night.
“You’re playing well one day and [then] next time you get punched in the mouth,” McBride said. “So it’s always about how you respond in this league.”
The Knicks have talked about taking that punch this season and maybe it’s not the worst thing, seeing how they get back up when they’re knocked down. Right now, no one needs to raise their game as much as Bridges. But Brown and the Knicks have stuck with him, at least for now.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
