Mikal Bridges Showing Talks of His Knicks Downfall Were Premature

New York Knicks fans weren’t as giddy as they’d like to have been Wednesday night after taking both games at Madison Square Garden, thanks to OG Anunoby’s late game injury. With just under three minutes left to go in the 108-102 victory, the six-foot-seven forward asked out of the game and now is confirmed to be day-to-day with a hamstring injury.

Anunoby has been the Knicks' best and most consistent player during this playoff run so far, which says a lot considering the play of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns. However, this group is far more equipped to withstand the two-way force of nature missing time than they were two years ago when he went down with a hamstring problem during Game 2 against the Pacers in the second round.

Let’s hope it’s not Deja Vu, but if the Knicks will be without him, it presents a chance for Mikal Bridges to continue showing his worth.

Mikal Bridges can offer Knicks more even more of Anunoby misses any time

Round two seemingly brings out the best of Bridges. Last spring against Boston, the stretchy six-foot-six forward sealed Games 1 and 2 with last-second steals. He’s rising to the occasion once again with some of the best two-way play we’ve seen from the player Leon Rose forked over five first-round picks to Brooklyn to acquire.

In the first two games against Philadelphia, Bridges has 35 points on 16 of 23 shooting from the floor. His ball-denial defense on Tyrese Maxey has been incredible. His defense has been so suffocating that Maxey has even stopped trying to go at him. The All-Star guard has either called for a screen or passed and has had a hard time getting the ball back en route to shooting 12 of 32 from the field.

Dating back to the series clincher against the Hawks, where Bridges scored 24 points on 12 shots, his playmaking and finishing on offense has risen to a level New York needs to make a real run to the Finals. This comes after the NBA's ironman faced his fair share of criticism during the regular season and earlier in these playoffs.

There were plenty of spurts during the year where the Villanova product was not aggressive or engaged enough. There were late game benchings and large swaths of invisibility. Bridges notched 20 or more points just 16 times and scored in the single digits 13 times. He also rarely drove to the rim, averaging a measly 1.2 free throws per game.

During Game 3 against the Hawks, Bridges hit rock bottom. He became the first player with zero points, at least four turnovers, and minus-26 plus/minus rating or worse in a playoff game since the 1996-97 season when tracking began. In six quarters spanning the second half of Game 2 and all of Game 3, Bridges recorded zero points, one rebound, two assists and was a minus-37 in 41 minutes.

So many have been down on Bridges since his arrival, and I admit I may have commented once or twice, but I always knew he’d find his way. He’s too good of a player not to. The Knicks look completely different when Bridges turns into an individual high efficiency shot creator.

Because of the price tag New York paid to acquire him, Bridges has been under a spotlight since coming over from across the bridge. It’s either Knicks fans are ready to disown him or they need to fill out apology forms.

Right now all the apologies are warranted.

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