Six months ago, Josh Hart was sitting at his locker after a brutal loss to the Celtics, pushing back against criticism of his friend Mikal Bridges.
“We don’t care about all that background noise about Mikal, his shot, all that other — we don’t care about it. He puts the work in every day. He’s going to be good. The talk around it is stupid,” Hart said then.
So what Bridges did on Monday -- scoring 23 points in the Knicks’ Game 4 win over Boston -- meant something to Hart.
“I’m so proud of him as a teammate, as a friend, going through all the adversity that he’s gone through this season,” Hart said late Monday night. “He’s never complained. He always comes to work happy, smiling. He deserves his credit and his flowers.”
After an uneven regular season, Bridges has come up big night after night in the playoffs for the Knicks. Monday night was just the latest example; Bridges had 10 key points in the fourth quarter to help New York build and maintain a lead against Boston.
He also had three steals, seven rebounds, and three assists in the game while defending Boston’s tough wings/perimeter players. He started the game slowly (5-for-14) but hit seven of his final 10 shots, including five in a row at the beginning of the fourth.
“That's what I love about him,” Tom Thibodeau said afterward. “He played hard the whole game. I thought he had some good looks that didn't go in, but that didn't sway him at all.”
Bridges wasn’t the only offseason acquisition to deliver on Monday. OG Anunoby defended well for much of the night and hit several big shots on the way to 20 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
Mitchell Robinson -- whom the Knicks elected not to trade at the deadline -- had five offensive rebounds (eight overall) in 25 minutes.
Of course, there’s Jalen Brunson -- the most important acquisition of the Leon Rose era.
