AS TOBIAS HARRIS noticed up from the left wing late in a Recreation 6 throughout the NBA playoffs’ first spherical final month, the Detroit Pistons veteran noticed New York Knicks wing Mikal Bridges sprinting at him, prompting Harris to place the ball on the ground and assault the basket as a substitute.
However Harris, trying to cap the possession with a dunk, had firm on the rim. New York’s OG Anunoby had gotten there first, swatting the try away. Knicks guard Josh Hart recovered the ball, instantly throwing a hit-ahead go to Bridges in transition.
Bridges, with two defenders to beat within the open ground — Cade Cunningham in entrance and Malik Beasley closing from the left — pounded two dribbles into the Little Caesars Enviornment hardwood earlier than rising for a left-handed slam over Cunningham’s outstretched arm.
“That is a person’s jam!” play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle shouted as Bridges completed the play. For good measure, Bridges shouted, too, and punched the air in celebration earlier than getting again on protection.
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Mikal Bridges places Cade Cunningham on a poster with nasty slam
Mikal Bridges exhibits no regret as he a slams down the hammer over Cade Cunningham after a giant OG Anunoby block.
The total sequence — Bridges’ close-out, Anunoby’s block after which Bridges once more for his thunderous dunk — showcased the Knicks’ imaginative and prescient for the two-way pair: guard everybody and function floor-spacers who punish opponents from the corners when defenses crowded guard Jalen Brunson.
Including the 28-year-old Bridges and the 27-year-old Anunoby got here at a steep worth, and with dangers. In July, New York surrendered 5 first-round picks to land Bridges in a uncommon crosstown take care of the Brooklyn Nets. Lower than two weeks earlier, the Knicks agreed to a five-year, $212 million free agent deal — the richest in franchise historical past — to convey again Anunoby after buying and selling RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors final season. Some pundits criticized New York for the draft capital and wage cap house used so as to add two gamers who’ve by no means made an All-Star group.
Now, New York has its greatest likelihood but at reaching the Jap Convention finals for the primary time in 25 years. A lot of the Knicks’ success throughout this clutch-time-fueled playoff run, together with the possibility to shut out the defending champion Boston Celtics in Friday’s Recreation 6 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), has featured the duo going toe-to-toe with the league’s elite scorers. However after Bridges, Anunoby and the Knicks’ protection have been torched in Recreation 5 by the Celtics with out Jayson Tatum, New York may want extra magic from its two-way wings.
IT’S COMMON FOR Bridges, the league’s modern-day ironman at 556 straight video games to begin his profession, to be joined at his locker by huge baggage of ice strapped to every knee.
And on Dec. 11, following the Knicks’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks within the NBA Cup quarterfinals, he definitely wanted them. Bridges had simply been screened 50 occasions, essentially the most any NBA participant confronted in a sport this season.
Earlier than Bridges joined the Knicks, he was the 2022 runner-up for Defensive Participant of the Yr, and had nearly all the time been deployed onto opposing groups’ greatest wing scorers — superstars equivalent to Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Jayson Tatum.
Nevertheless, in Bridges’ first season with the Knicks, coach Tom Thibodeau had Bridges function because the Knicks’ point-of-attack stopper, an effort to avoid wasting put on and tear on Brunson, who, on offense, has dealt with the ball greater than any NBA participant this season.
By means of January, Bridges was navigating 25 screens per outing, greater than any participant within the league’s 13-year database.
Making issues much more difficult, the Knicks additionally have been adjusting to Karl-Anthony Towns as their backstop after he’d performed with elite rim protector Rudy Gobert in Minnesota. As such, groups examined New York’s offseason additions on protection.
For essentially the most half, that technique labored. By means of November, New York’s protection ranked twenty first within the league. And even after significant enchancment and a comfortable December schedule, the membership was simply fifteenth — a substantial drop from the ninth-ranked unit a season in the past.
The rising pains additionally damage Bridges on the offensive finish of the ground. In the course of the 16-game, monthlong stretch between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1, he took simply six free throws whole after averaging almost 4 per sport final season with the Nets. All of it made for a stark distinction from the seamless fit Anunoby proved to be when coming over from Toronto in December 2023.
“It takes time,” Brunson mentioned earlier this week of Bridges’ season. “It is like with rookies. Individuals will be actually good early, or folks can develop and get higher at another level. You by no means know when that turning level is. …
“I by no means actually misplaced any religion as a result of I’ve identified him for therefore lengthy.”
There have been indicators that Bridges was growing a consolation stage all alongside — his 41-point efficiency towards the San Antonio Spurs amongst them — and he even foreshadowed his clutch, ball-hawking tendencies that sealed comeback wins in Video games 1 and a couple of towards the Celtics. Bridges logged blocks on the buzzer to carry on to wins over the Nets and Hawks, and in a February sport towards the Bulls, he blocked middle Nikola Vucevic to ship that contest to additional time.
However Bridges and Anunoby additionally had an awakening on offense, triggered by Brunson’s late-season ankle damage. The shift unlocked a brand new stage of scoring from the duo that, if it comes by means of in the precise moments, may convey New York again to the highest earlier than anybody anticipated.
WHEN BRUNSON WENT down with a foul ankle sprain towards the Los Angeles Lakers that may preserve him out 15 video games, it wasn’t instantly clear who would shepherd the Knicks’ offense.
Backup level guard Miles McBride was additionally out of the lineup due to an damage. Third-stringer Cameron Payne suffered one shortly after that, too. And whereas Cities is a incredible playmaking middle, he typically wants somebody to provoke offense for him. That is additionally usually true of Hart, who may give defenses matches however extra as a secondary ball handler.
Bridges and Anunoby’s roles, in the meantime, had clear prime priorities within the Knicks’ Brunson-led offense: Nobody within the NBA launched extra nook 3s this season than Bridges and Anunoby, who tried 219 and 216, respectively.
With a playmaking void within the membership’s offense, Bridges dealt with the ball extra and ramped up his midrange sport — he ended the season capturing 50.7%, third within the NBA amongst quantity shooters — and upped his scoring from 17 factors per night time earlier than Brunson’s damage to twenty.5 within the guard’s absence. It appears to have bolstered Bridges’ scoring confidence within the late levels of video games, when Brunson is taking fourth-quarter breathers.
In the meantime, Anunoby made an excellent larger leap, going from 16.5 to just about 23 factors per sport on improved effectivity.
“Our play fashion clearly highlights Jalen and KAT. I believe at occasions we will function OG and Mikal a bit of extra,” Hart mentioned. “I knew OG all the time had the flexibility to knock down photographs — even final yr, along with his midrange, step-backs, stuff like that — however I really feel like he took it to a different stage when Jalen went down.
“The NBA is so situational, as a result of he is able to having large scoring nights, and typically his quantity’s not referred to as. However when his quantity is named, he rises to the event.”
🔐 3 steals
🚫 2 blocks
🙌 1 game-sealing playMikal Bridges was LOCKDOWN for the @nyknicks within the Recreation 1 additional time W! pic.twitter.com/28Y13hHcu0
— NBA (@NBA) May 6, 2025
The defensive-minded Thibodeau loves Bridges and Anunoby most for what they take away as defenders, significantly late in tight video games all through New York’s wild clutch run this postseason.
The Jayson Tatum- and Jaylen Brown-led Celtics had shot simply 13% (3-for-23) general — with extra turnovers than baskets — in 14 minutes of clutch time throughout this collection. Boston, extra reliant on 3-pointers than any group in league historical past, has related on solely one among its 11 makes an attempt from deep in these situations, an enormous credit score to the Knicks’ defensive wing duo.
“You are asking guys, significantly in five-out [situations], to get in to guard the paint and likewise get out to cowl the 3-point line. After which when the ball will get shot, to go and rebound,” Thibodeau mentioned of Bridges and Anunoby. “Having the flexibility to play the two, 3 and 4, it lets you do much more switching.”
There’s an argument to be made that the forwards are the Knicks’ largest bellwether within the collection with Boston. After they every play effectively — like within the second half of the close-out Recreation 6 in Detroit, or the Recreation 4 victory towards Boston, wherein they mixed for 19 factors on 9-for-10 capturing within the pivotal fourth quarter — it is extremely robust to beat.
On nights equivalent to Recreation 5, when the Knicks’ protection allowed 22 3-pointers and Anunoby and Bridges themselves mixed for 5-for-26 capturing — it places an unsustainable burden on Brunson and Cities to attain. If New York can muster sufficient out of their wings to knock out Boston — and in doing so, develop into the favourite to win the East — all of the picks and wage for Bridges and Anunoby can have been price it for the Knicks, whom nearly nobody anticipated to get this far after faltering towards their rival throughout the common season.