Wednesday night felt like an apt summation of Mikal Bridges’ first year as a Knick.
Extended stretches where he struggled, but a spurt that showed why Leon Rose and the Knicks were willing to send the Nets a haul of assets — including five first-round draft picks — to bring him to the Garden.
Just like you can now throw out Bridges’ uneven regular season, you can do the same with his first three quarters of Game 2.
His final period was that impactful, Bridges leading the Knicks back from a 20-point deficit and making the game-deciding defensive play to give them a stunning 2-0 lead over the Celtics in this Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Really, Bridges has turned the narrative of his first season in orange and blue on its head with his play this postseason, especially of late.
You can’t find a Knicks fan complaining about those dealt draft picks anymore.
“It’s only right that all talk that people have done about Mikal, when the lights are the brightest, he gets to show his work,” Karl-Anthony Towns said.
Bridges was terrific in the opening-round clincher against the Pistons, pouring in 25 points and pulling the Knicks even in the final minute with his athletic tip-in.
Then, there was crunch time in the first two games against Boston.
Bridges was everywhere in overtime of Game 1, hitting a huge 3-pointer, setting up an OG Anunoby dunk with a steal and ripping the ball away from Jaylen Brown in the closing seconds to seal the dramatic victory.
In Game 2, he shook off an 0-for-8 start from the field to score all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter, then stole the Jayson Tatum pass to ice that win.
Wednesday night, Bridges spent a good portion of his scrum with reporters talking up his teammates and coaches, crediting them for their belief in him.
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It wasn’t an easy year. Bridges arrived with high expectations and didn’t always live up to them.
The Knicks’ support has been steadfast, just like Game 2, when he couldn’t find his shot over the first three quarters and their hopes of winning a second straight at TD Garden dimmed.
“It’s really, truly been them just holding me together and keeping me mentally right and just telling me to keep going,” he said. “And I think coach [Tom Thibodeau] also is just trusting me — coming out in the fourth, running a play for me, putting that confidence in me. But man, it’s really my teammates and my coaches, man. They really held me up.”
This was the vision when the Knicks traded for Bridges, that he would form a dynamic 1-2 wing punch with Anunoby.
The Celtics and their All-Star wings Tatum and Brown were the team in mind, the opponent the Knicks had to get past. It didn’t work out during the regular season.
Boston swept the season series and Bridges and Anunoby struggled.
But through two games, the Knicks’ wings have been up to the task. Tatum and Brown are a combined 27-for-85.
It’s the two shots they haven’t taken that have loomed the largest — two Bridges steals to ice back-to-back, come-from-behind wins.
When Bridges is the primary defender, Celtics players are 10-for-26.
Throughout the season, when he wasn’t performing as well as some may have liked, his old Villanova teammates always had his back.
Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson never wavered in their confidence that he would be there when it mattered most. In the last week, they have been proven prophetic.
“You really can’t say enough about his toughness and grit and mentality,” Hart said. “He had 14 points, he went into the fourth with no points. And [in the] fourth quarter he made huge plays for us offensively to keep us in the game. Defensively, he has the ability to change the whole course of a game. You give him credit, even when his shot is not falling, he’s making huge plays.”
