Mikal Bridges’ jump shot, Knicks’ defense show up in win over Pacers as new-look team comes together

Maybe you were concerned about Mikal Bridges’ shooting form. He wasn’t.

“I’m always confident,” Bridges said late Friday night. “That’s for other people to worry about.”

No need to worry after what Bridges did against Indiana on Friday.

He finished with 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting in New York’s 25-point win over the Pacers.

In his past six quarters, Bridges has hit 15 of 20 shots, including four of his six triples.

The concerns over Bridges shot started in the preseason when he went 2-for-19 from beyond the arc. They reached another level on Tuesday when Bridges missed all four of his attempts from deep in the first half against Boston.

Bridges finished that game making 7 of 8 shots in the second half, but that wasn’t going to slow down the narrative that his jumper was broken.

For what it’s worth, Tom Thibodeau was never worried.

“Where we are today with everything, social media, everyone wants to have an opinion on everything and yet the guy who’s doing the work every day, when you watch him work, you know how much he puts into it,” Thibodeau said Friday.

“I think if you (look at it) logically … and you say, ‘OK, this guy had shot almost 38 percent for his career,’ I’d bet on that.”

The Knicks obviously bet big on Bridges, sending five first-round picks to the Nets for him. His play will be pivotal for this Knicks season. That’s probably why there was such a strong reaction to his new shooting form.

But if the past six quarters are any indication, Bridges should be just fine.

He was among four Knicks to score at least 20 points against Indiana. Jalen Brunson led New York with 26 points and five assists. The Knick starters shot 68 percent from the field.

“We’re all talented. We all try to make the right read,” Bridges said. “Sometimes one guy might have the mismatch the whole game and might attack that. I think none of us really care about that. I think we’re just trying to win and play together on both ends.”

Defense shows up

The Knick defense responded well after getting torched by the Celtics on Tuesday. The Pacers missed 27 of 30 long-range attempts and Tyrese Haliburton was held scoreless.

“I thought OG (Anunoby)’s activity was huge for us,” Thibodeau said. “I thought Karl(-Anthony Towns) played a really good all-around game; the communication by the bigs, Mikal getting up over screens and fighting, and then the shell being a lot more active. I thought those things all mattered.”

The Knicks allowed Boston to hit 29 threes in a blowout loss Tuesday.

KAT, Brunson build chemistry

Towns had a strong floor game on Friday. He finished with 21 points, 15 rebounds (four offensive) and two blocks against the Pacers.

“He has so much gravity on the floor when he’s out there. So people have to respect it. People have to help. He’s, obviously, one of the best shooters in the league. He just brings another element to this team and we’re very excited to have him, and we’re happy to continue to get better with him.”

Towns had this to say about playing with Brunson:

“There’s a lot I already knew, how talented he was, like I’ve said before — just making sure you let him do what he does best and get out the way. So just blessed we get a chance to call him ‘cap.’”