DETROIT — This was Mikal Bridges’ most interesting hour as a Knick.
He picked the proper time to ship his greatest sport for the reason that workforce traded all these first-round picks to accumulate him.
After so many forgettable showings this 12 months, he supplied an evening to recollect.
Bridges poured in 25 factors — his a lot of the sequence — on 11-for-16 taking pictures from the sector together with 4 rebounds and three assists within the Knicks’ 116-113 Recreation 6 and series-clinching win over the Pistons on Thursday evening at Little Caesars Enviornment.
His put-back tip-in tied the sport at 113-113 with 35.1 seconds left within the sport.
“Just trying to find a way to win, just being there,” Bridges mentioned of the game-tying basket. “My coaches [have been] on me all year, all playoffs, to rebound, so just trying to do my best.”
Within the 5 earlier video games this sequence, Bridges averaged simply 14.4 factors on tough 42.6 p.c taking pictures from the sector, usually going lacking for lengthy intervals of time.
However he got here out aggressively Thursday evening and made the Pistons pay after they doubled Jalen Brunson — particularly with a nightmare exhibiting from Karl-Anthony Cities, who completed with 10 factors.
“Us playing fast, knowing the weapons we have, just try to be aggressive,” Bridges mentioned. “They tried taking [Brunson] away, we gotta punish them sometimes when they try to deny him and let other guys play.”
Brunson’s game-winning 3-pointer will get all of the plaudits.
However Brunson was fast to heap reward on Bridges.
“I wouldn’t be in that position without this man next to me, the way he played tonight,” Brunson mentioned. “Obviously, everyone’s gonna say a lot about the last shot but throughout the game, the ups and downs of it, we all stay composed. The way he played, it was tremendous. I give a lot of credit to my teammates. None of this happens without them.”
Bridges posterized Cade Cunningham with an emphatic dunk on a quick break within the third quarter.
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It helped energize the Knicks to ship by far their greatest third quarter of the sequence — outscoring the Pistons by 13 — earlier than their tough begin to the fourth quarter.
It’s uncommon to see Bridges, not usually an above-the-rim participant, ship such a ferocious dunk.
He had simply three dunks within the sequence earlier than Recreation 6.
“It felt great,” Bridges mentioned. “Wish I had been in front of our bench to see the reaction, [so] I could yell in front of their faces. It’s nice to see, getting back on defense, see those guys all running around jumping around [in celebration]. I love my teammates, man. I just go out there, try to make a play. I play for them.”
