Suns F Mikal Bridges Speaks on Losing Game 7, Mavericks Series
If you're a Phoenix Suns fan, there's no need to re-hash all the trauma for the Dallas Mavericks series.
It's been a few weeks since the Suns ultimately fell short of their championship goal once again, and while guys such as Monty Williams and James Jones have appeared in front of media to answer questions about the series and the upcoming offseason, we haven't truly gotten a word from one of the players on the court.
That was until Suns forward Mikal Bridges hopped on JJ Redick's "The Old Man & the Three" podcast to discuss what happened against the Mavericks.
Mikal Bridges Speaks on Losing Game 7, Mavericks Series
Bridges on what happened in Game 7 against Dallas
“I don't know… It just, it was up, and then they just… I mean it was a good series. I think when we went up 3-2 I think we had a feeling we all thought we was going to win in Dallas. Once they won, even though it was home advantage, you know better than me like Game 7 is just like, now it's up for grabs like you know even I don't think you feel the homecourt advantage as much because they're so confident and now it's like, there's really nothing to lose and they’re just gonna go out just playing the way they’ve been playing and yeah, it got real scary. I remember I just looked up (at the scoreboard), I felt they were just scoring every time … I can hear them, I can just them every time they score and just the energy every single time. We're not scoring that much, like at all. I look up, I just look up to see the score and I’m like, man going to half down 30 is just ridiculous. And now it's just like coming back out you gotta start off hot like out to jump street in the third. If not, you don’t have a chance and then man we couldn’t even score coming out and they just kept going. Everybody had their rhythm and I mean credit to them, everybody played really well. I just didn’t think that would happen, especially Dallas. Like Dallas is good but I remember besides this playoffs, I don't think I lost to them, the Suns haven’t lost to them in years. So it's like every time we play them it’s like, ‘oh we have their number. We have their number’ and them mother******* got us.”
Bridges on having homecourt advantage and how that can potentially work against you
“It’s sometimes tough at home, where somebody does on a run and you miss it, you can hear the crowd. You can hear your crowd just go ‘Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!’ like alright, we get it God damn it, like we know. We know. So now it’s like a little mental to you. On the road (when) you miss, they’re cheering. And in your head, you’re like, ‘F*** that, I’m making the next one. They think I’ll miss? Okay, I’ll make the next one.’ So it’s just that little bit of feeling sometimes where it’s like you have just a little more pressure at home and you’re supposed to win, and the crowd knows it too, and they got their emotions. So once you start missing and you hear them sighs, it starts getting to people sometimes.”
Bridges on if he felt embarrassed
“For sure, for sure. It’s going to be known every time somebody talks about a Game 7, you just know it’s gonna be thrown there. I don’t know if it set a record or anything like that, so if it did set a record, then you’re really gonna see it all the time. But other than that, whenever it’s Game 7 or just playoffs in general … You know all they remember is going to be that Game 7 … When you’re getting ready for next year, all they’re going to talk about was, ‘You remember what happened in Game 7?’ I was embarrassed, it sucks.”
Bridges on what changed after the Suns went up 2-0 in the series
“They made it tough, man. They made it tough on our main guys, you know C (Chris Paul) and Book, they just made it tough on them. We’re used to the adjustments and stuff but they did a great job. When they were at home, them guys getting their confidence up. I always credit Finney (Dorian Finney-Smith) for what he does, just being in the same role as him and understanding that. The game he had in Dallas where he had 30, like I know the same way if I was in that position … As a player, especially at his position, I don’t get the ball that much, he don’t get the ball that much. But know he’s making shots, now it don’t even matter going into next games if I don’t touch it for ten possessions, I would still feel like I’m hot no matter what. When that happened, like alright. You already got Luka. You already have JB (Jalen Brunson), I think JB getting into a rhythm cause he struggled Game 1 or Game 2, him getting a rhythm (helped Dallas). Shoot, (Spencer) Dinwiddie man, I give credit to him too. I think him on that team, we played them a lot and he wasn’t there, I think it was our first time playing them when he was there. He hooped. He did what he did. He was hitting all of his shots, step-backs and all that stuff. Jason Kidd, bruh. His adjustments and what he was trying to do to limit C and Book and make other guys like us beat them and stuff like that, he did a hell of a job.”
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