Mikal Bridges Surge Has Been Knicks Finest Christmas Gift

Radio City had nothing on the Christmas spectacular that Mikal Bridges provided for the New York Knicks on Wednesday afternoon.

Future narrators of scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago were offered prime material in the Knicks’ latest Yuletide excursion, as Bridges guided the Knicks to a 117-114 victory over the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden.

Bridges scored 41 points in the win, second in the Knicks’ rollercoaster holiday history behind only the 60 that Wednesday ticketholder Bernard King posted in the 1984 showdown with the New Jersey Nets.

“I continue to work every day to get comfortable with the team and the system,” Bridges said, per James Edwards III of The Athletic. “Teammates have been finding me. I just want to keep getting better.”

Such tidings of comfort and joy, as well as rendering Victor Wembayama’s equally impressive showing moot, no doubt created a signature performance for Bridges, who capped off MSG’s 2024 calendar slate on a high note and continues to render a slow start long-forgotten.

The pressure was packed on Bridges from the second he switched boroughs in June: Bridges was acquired from the rival Brooklyn Nets in exchange for five future draft picks and it was up to him to prove that the move was made for reasons beyond the power of Villanova friendship. The reunion with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart proved awkward in the early going.

With his preseason work partly headlined by an adjusted jump shot, Bridges’ early offensive returns were disappointing, particularly a brutal 30.4 percent three-point success rate. His lauded defense likewise suffered, leading some observers to ponder if the Nets were the early winners of the deal.

For every supposed turning point, another struggle often awaited. For example, Bridges seemed to endear himself to Knicks fans when he secured the game-winning block in a Nov. 15 win over his prior employers. Two weeks later, however, he was benched for the final stages of a Black Friday tilt in Charlotte, one where the lowly Hornets took the Knicks to the brink before Brunson bailed New York out.

But the Knicks’ recent December dash through the snow has somewhat relied upon the rediscovered talents of Bridges, with the Christmas culmination serving as the brightest example to date.

Over the final month of a rollercoaster calendar, Bridges has started to make his metropolitan presence felt: the narratives around his jumper are roasting over an open fire, as he is shooting over 57 percent from the field, including just under 47 percent from three-point range. Among players averaging at least 30 minutes a game, those success rates place seventh and fifth respectively.

Advanced numbers are even deeper in Bridges’ favor: a net rating of 18.0 indicates that the two-way game the Knicks sought has arrived as advertised as he ranks among the top dozen on both sides of the ball. To top it all off, the Knicks have nine in the most important department. Left for dead by some amidst the sluggish start, the Knicks are only two games behind the defending champion Boston Celtics with the new year landmark looming.

Hart, one of the few New Yorkers unashamed to serve as a Bridges apologist during his dreary debuts, made sure there would be an admission fee for any doubter attempting to board the Bridges bandwagon.

“We knew it was just a matter of time before he kind of found it. Now he found it and (the media is) not saying nothing,” Hart said, per Neil Best of Newsday. “Get some damn apology forms out. I’ll be collecting them next game and give him his flowers because he’s playing well. Let the flowers be as loud as the hate.”

Hart’s collection day lands on Friday night, when he and Bridges will look to keep up the momentum against the Orlando Magic in Central Florida (7 p.m. ET, MSG).

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