Knicks’ Mikal Bridges' Iron Man Streak Deserves No Naysayers

During the Knicks final regular season tune-up before the playoffs get rolling, coach Mike Brown sat all of his starters with the third seed locked up, except for Mikal Bridges. For the third straight Game 82 finale, the 29-year old made a brief cameo before heading to the sidelines so that he can keep his consecutive games played streak alive at 638 and counting.

The Knicks won the tip and as soon as they ran back on defense, Bridges committed a foul to stop play and he was removed after 23 seconds on the court. This has become an annual occurrence for the 29-year old. Last season, he was subbed out after six seconds. Three years ago, with Brooklyn, it was four seconds.

In an era of load management, the eight-year veteran’s elite durability is worth celebrating. But the decision yet again for Bridges to clock in and immediately out raised plenty of eyebrows, with some criticizing it as a "mockery." Mike Breen, the long-time voice of the Knicks, wasn't one of them and he summed up why the legitimacy of the streak shouldn't be questioned.

Let's not confuse the iron man streak with stat padding

"Some people get annoyed by that, saying oh it's not legitimate," Breen said on MSG Networks. "It is absolutely legitimate because he would go out and play 35 minutes tonight. He was ready to play, he's always ready to play. And deserves to have this because clearly they don't want him getting hurt in a meaningless game.

The spirit of the streak is untarnished and deserves no asterisk. This is a guy that hasn’t missed a game since high school. 116 straight at Villanova, 638 in the regular season and an additional 57 playoff contests. That's 811 in a row without including however many before that.

The great Bill Parcells made famous the line "The best ability is availability." The whole point is being available to play. If the game mattered, Bridges would've played his normal minutes. 23 seconds or 48 minutes, it makes no difference. The Knicks would be irresponsible to risk an injury to one of their key cogs in a meaningless game.

Knicks wing Mikal Bridges. — New York Knicks guard Mikal Bridges (25) shoots the ball as Washington Wizards guard Sharife Cooper (13) defends during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

During this season, Bridges actually played in 83 games, something Keldon Johnson and Julian Champagnie also accomplished, due to the NBA Cup Championship not counting towards regular season stats. He also played in 83 games in 2022-23 thanks to a mid-season trade from Phoenix to Brooklyn.

Across the last three seasons no player has been on an NBA court for more than the 8,582 minutes of Bridges. He led the league in minutes last year with 3,036 and did so also in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He finished this season sixth in total minutes with 2,692. He also ranked third in total in-game distance traveled with 211.30 miles, trailing only Amen Thompson and Toumani Camara.

It has been an up and down season for Bridges, however. He averaged 14.2 points, his lowest total since 2021-22. He went invisible for games at a time and it’s fair to wonder if the admirable streak is becoming a detriment. At times he seems mentally fatigued and scared of contact, averaging a measly 1.2 free-throws per game.

Across the grinding NBA schedule, Brides pushed his game streak up to the eighth-longest in NBA history, moving past the likes of Andre Miller, John Stockton and four others. No player that he's chasing started their run after the 1980s. The next closest active competitor to Bridges was Harrison Barnes, whose streak was halted at 364 games due to a sore ankle.

Bridges has earned a pass for playing a few seconds in one game

If Bridges' games played streak “doesn’t count” then neither does A.C. Green's historic mark of 1,192 consecutive. The three-time champion fudged his numbers somewhat by suiting up for five or fewer minutes 16 times, including one game with just 3 seconds played in April of 1999. After taking an elbow to the face in 1996, Green snuck into 12 games for minimal work to keep the streak intact.

Bridges has a long way to go before catching Green, of course. He will need to suit up in every game for the next six-plus seasons to get there. Speaking of games, the Knicks have one on the schedule for Saturday, and you bet Bridges will be there.

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