Why Knicks’ Mikal Bridges won’t catch A.C. Green’s iron man streak

Mikal Bridges’ streak is very much alive and incredible by today’s NBA standards.

But the Knicks guard isn’t kidding himself.

A.C. Green’s record of 1,192 straight games is untouchable.

“No way I’m catching him,” Bridges said. “I’ve gotta see what he was doing at the end [of his streak]. I wonder if he was subbing in and subbing out. It ain’t that deep, I promise you. I’m just trying to play.”

Bridges has logged 474 consecutive appearances — never missing a game since getting drafted in 2018 — and is probably underselling the significance of the streak since he played just four seconds of his Brooklyn finale to keep it alive.

From a historical perspective, Bridges’ streak is only the 13th longest in the NBA — behind the likes of John Stockton and Derek Fisher. But in the age of load management and injury maintenance, the persistent availability is a distant outlier. No current player comes close to Bridges’ active streak.

He said Wednesday it’s a combination of luck, genes and commitment to recovery.

“People have asked me what’s the secret, and I’m just, like, ‘I’m blessed.’ I’ve got skinny bones that could hold up really well,” Bridges said. “Just doing a lot of recovery and lifting. Just doing things to help prevent [injuries]. That’s pretty much it.”

Bridges then noted that he was among the last Knicks players in the locker room after Wednesday night’s preseason victory over the Wizards.

“I’m not staying here just chilling,” said Bridges, who played 31 minutes in the preseason game with three steals and 16 points. “I’m doing stuff for recovery to help my body and help myself be better for the next day ’cause that’s the biggest thing — you’ll feel OK now, but it’s that next day when you wake up. So trying to feel good tonight so tomorrow I won’t feel as bad.”

Now 28 and entering his seventh season, Bridges said he’s picked up new tricks to maintain his health, including cupping and dry needling therapy.

“I feel as I got older I always added something and just learned. The cups are something that was new. Needling last year was new,” Bridges said. “Just adding little things I’ve never really done before.”

But no matter how many tricks Bridges picks up, however, Green’s mark from 23 years ago is out of the picture. In order to catch that streak, Bridges would have to play every game for the next 8 ¾ seasons.

Some records are meant to stay forever.