Mikal Bridges showing he's also got game on offensive end
Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges scored 45 points against the Miami Heat at Barclays Center on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Suns formally introduced Kevin Durant in Phoenix on Thursday. Mikal Bridges informally introduced himself to Nets fans on Wednesday night.
The latter came in the form of a career-high 45-point performance in a 116-105 victory over the Heat that sent the Nets into the All-Star break on a happy note.
The question now is whether Bridges can become a consistent offensive factor on a team that earlier this month parted ways with Kyrie Irving and then Durant.
Bridges is known primarily for his defense and reiterated after Wednesday’s game that “defense always comes first for me.”
But Cam Johnson, who came with Bridges to the Nets in the Durant trade, said Bridges spent the offseason working hard to improve his offense.
Why? Bridges said that with the Suns aiming for a playoff run and opponents figuring to focus on Devin Booker and Chris Paul late in games, he wanted to be a viable scoring alternative.
Understanding that other teams would “make me and Cam and D.A. [Deandre Ayton] make a play . . . I knew I had to create a little bit more for the Suns to be the best team when I was there.”
Now that he is here, it took him only a week to become a key voice in the locker room (according to coach Jacque Vaughn), to acquire a nickname (“Brooklyn,” as in “Brooklyn Bridges”) and top his previous career high in points by 11.
“Coming here and being in this offense and playing a little more free, I had to get there a little faster,” he said of his evolution on offense.
It's not as if Bridges was eager to leave Phoenix, but he noted that with a star such as Booker there, there was only so far he could go toward being a go-to guy.
“Book’s younger than me,” Bridges said. (Both are 26, but Bridges is two months older.) “It’s going to be tough for my path to get there because of the guys in front of me.
“[In Brooklyn], I have to learn and grow up a little bit faster. Excited for the opportunity. I think this was the perfect time.”
As for being identified by Vaughn as a leader, Bridges said, “It’s tough for me personally because I don’t want to be that new guy talking too much. But I believe in this team a lot.”
After getting more time to acclimate, he said, “I feel like we’ll be a scary team that teams don’t want to play against.”
No matter where their paths take them from here, Bridges and Durant always will have a bond of sorts because of the trade.
Bridges said he does not think about trying to live up to that. Even though he said he might be better than Durant on defense, he is under no illusion that he can live up to Durant’s level as a scorer.
“I’m confident in myself scoring the ball,” Bridges said, “but that man has been doing it for all these damn years, and doing it really good.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
