Mikal Bridges hits game-winner in OT as Knicks beat Trail Blazers
Knicks forward Mikal Bridges tries to pass the ball around Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe during the first half of an NBA game Wednesday in Portland, Ore. Credit: AP/Jenny Kane
PORTLAND, Ore. — There is arguably no NBA player who wants to be on the floor more than Mikal Bridges, who has never sat out a game in his career. He was set to play in his 539th consecutive game on Wednesday night, while also leading the NBA in total minutes played this season — a feat he’s already achieved twice in his career.
That may have felt like a perfect fit for Tom Thibodeau, a coach who cherishes availability above nearly any metric. But the two found themselves embroiled in a strange he said-he said episode Wednesday that seemed more pressing for much of the day than the game to follow.
But with 0.4 seconds left in overtime Bridges put all that aside and delivered the game-winning three-point field goal to rescue the Knicks with a 114-113 win over the Blazers.
Thibodeau’s counter to any of the criticism has been that he and his team know what goes on behind closed doors better than anyone outside and even with the episode on this day the two seemed to push it aside by game time. Bridges and Thibodeau fist-bumped before the opening tip and Bridges responded with a team-high 33 points.
The Knicks needed the heroics after nearly seeing the game slip away. Mitchell Robinson fouled Scoot Henderson with 3.4 seconds left in regulation and Henderson converted both shots and Deuce McBride missed on a shot from just inside of half court as time expired.
In overtime Bridges gave the Knicks the lead with 2:50 left and neither team could score the rest of the way. McBride blocked a Henderson drive with 7.9 seconds left that went out off Portland. But when the Knicks tried to inbound, Josh Hart ran along the line, a violation, giving the Blazers the ball back under their basket and another chance.
Robinson blocked a Deni Avdija layup, but Avdija grabbed the loose ball and converted this time, drawing a foul on Hart and converting the three-point play with 3.4 seconds remaining, setting up the final opportunity.
OG Anunoby finished with 23 points, Karl-Anthony Towns added 21 and Josh Hart had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The minutes debate has been something that has trailed Thibodeau throughout his coaching career and was thrust front and center again this week even with the Knicks recording a blowout win in Sacramento as former NBA player Channing Frye criticized Thibodeau’s reluctance to use his bench.
Bridges said that he’s spoken to Thibodeau about how it could benefit both starters and substitutes to shift the minutes load.
“Sometimes not fun on the body,” Bridges said after the morning shootaround. “But you want that as a coach. But also talk to him a little bit, knowing that we’ve got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in and we don’t need to play 48, 47. We’ve got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away the minutes, which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps us keeping fresh bodies out there.”
And the response from his coach to those talks?
“He’s not arguing about it,” Bridges said. “Sometimes I think he just gets in his ways and he gets locked in and he just wants to keep the guy out there. Sometimes you have to tell him like, Landry for example or somebody, keep them out there, they’re playing well.”
But Thibodeau was animated before the game responding — and denying that the conversation had taken place.
“One, we never had a conversation about it,” Thibodeau said. “But the facts are the facts. And when you look at our team and the way it works: Jalen plays 35 minutes, he’s in top-20. KAT [Karl-Anthony Towns] is a primary scorer, he plays less than Jalen. Your wings play more. So they’re matched up with primary scorers.
“So the way it works is if Jayson Tatum is in the game and Jaylen Brown is in the game, OG will be in the game and Mikal will be in the game. When those guys go out, they go out. When they come back, they come back. Try to keep the matchups. When you look at the league, all those guys are playing 35, 36 minutes, whether it’s [Kevin] Durant, Tatum, or Brown. A wing is going to play more. They’re primary wing defenders. That’s the way the league works.”
Bridges is not only leading the NBA in total minutes played but is second in minutes per game, just behind teammate Josh Hart, 37.819 to 37.812. OG Anunoby is sixth while Jalen Brunson is 19th and Towns is 23rd — all five starters averaging at least 35 minutes per game.
The argument still has rung hollow because the Knicks have managed to keep their starting lineup together more than any other team — and part of that is because they have been healthy.
Frye’s point was more about what the bench can contribute.
“I played for coaches where we have our game plan and it’s not working and the coach yells ‘just do it harder!’ . . . We go ‘Coach, you’ve got to put somebody else in, something has to change,’ “ Frye said. “Switch it up . . . Thibs plays six dudes, seven dudes. Over the course of the game you get a rhythm, like a metronome. For these dudes, they’re exhausted.”
When the quote was raised Thibodeau said, “Who?” And when Frye’s name was repeated, he said, “He doesn’t even understand our team.”
If Bridges, who regularly has handled the most minutes in the NBA, is feeling it then maybe there is something to it. “I think it’s something you never really get used to,” Bridges said. “Your body is going to feel how it is every year. But I’ve been a part of it for a while, knowing how to take care of my body through those situations and just trying to do as much as I can. "“Mikal’s minutes have gone down,” Thibodeau said. “We’ve started the season with Landry hurt and Deuce [McBride] not 100%. So our wings did play more. So are they playing a little bit more than I would like? Yeah. Probably 35 or 36 and that’s where Mikal is if you look at the last 10 games, he’s playing 35 minutes per game and four of those games are overtime games.
"So that’s the reality. Now that Deuce is healthy, those minutes are going to come down. So that’s the way it is. OG is playing at an elite level. Josh never wants to come out. So that’s part of that. We’ve got plenty. We’ve got Mitch back now so we got good quality depth.”
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.
