Knicks begin pre-playoff load management, but Mikal Bridges will continue to suit up
Knicks forward Mikal Bridges celebrates his three-point shot against the Philadelphia 76ers during the first quarter at Madison Square Garden on April 1. Credit: Brad Penner
DETROIT — The playoff preparation has already begun, with the Knicks sitting three players Thursday night against the Pistons and likely sitting others Friday night against Cleveland at The Garden.
But one of those players will not be Mikal Bridges, who played in his 554th consecutive game Thursday— or every game of his career since being drafted in 2018. And if you expect him to take a night off, consider a little story deeper in his history.
“It’s just a mentality. I got that from growing up,” Bridges said after the morning shootaround. “I always wanted to play, being upset, hiding injuries from my mom and always playing through them.”
And that injury he hid from his mother while in high school?
“Ended up breaking my – I guess fracturing my heel, breaking my heel, playing outside - like an outdoor league - and I was [angry] we lost,” Bridges said. “So I remember hurting it in the game, and I was so mad, we got in the car, and she was like, you’re alright? And I’m like, I’m fine. And I kind of just [played] for a month. And one day I woke up out of bed and I couldn’t walk and I was like, yeah, my foot is messed up.”
“… I was kind of playing on it. It was just sore a little bit and I think it got severe as the days went on."
He finally gave in and went to a doctor.
“They said it was just a broken heel or something,” he said. “My mom was just trying to be – 'what happened', and I told her what happened. She knew. She’s smart so she’s like, I knew something was up.”
He sat one game in high school, not for the broken heel, but for an illness he wanted to play through - his coach opted to sit him to secure favorable seeding — and not one day at Villanova. Now, there are bumps and bruises, but nothing that has kept him from taking the floor every night. This season, as he has in two of the previous three, he leads the NBA in total minutes played.
So while Josh Hart, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson were held out Thursday - and the Knicks wouldn’t surprise anyone if they sit Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson and Deuce McBride Friday -Bridges will be in the lineup as long as he can walk.
“He should be commended for it,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “You’ve got to put a lot into that, taking care of your body, preparing to play a long season. It used to be a badge of honor, not so much anymore. It’s a credit to him and his durability.”
“I got between days, two games [left],” Bridges said, ” So just try to get as much recovery and rest as I can between those days....
“Getting to college, where Coach [Jay] Wright is big on just playing through it. Even my high school coach; you roll an ankle, he calls it a stinger and tells you just tie your shoes up even tighter. So throughout my phases, I always had my personal self and then my coaches who always kinda just pushed me even more. So it was just a mentality thing at that point.”
Bridges’ minutes caused one bit of controversy in the locker room earlier this season when he talked about his belief that the load could be reduced, mainly because of his belief in the bench players. But he followed that up by hours later scoring 33 points and hitting the game-winner in Portland.
That game was one of the first after Brunson went down with a sprained ankle. And while the Knicks obviously want all of their players healthy, like Anunoby, Bridges saw his production rise with the Knicks in need of production to make up for Brunson’s absence — a factor that could help as the team heads to the postseason.
“JB went down, it was kind of like a blessing in disguise,” Bridges said. “I prefer nobody gets injured, especially my teammates. But thank God it wasn’t super severe. Some ankle I know he’s dealt with and can get through. But from a whole team purpose, yeah, I just think it helped us. It helped us play with the ball more, everybody getting it...It kind of made everybody realize we got some talent on this team to help Jalen and try to get to where we want to get to.”
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
