The talk of Thursday night’s game between the New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves was Karl-Anthony Towns returning to the place he called home for nine seasons. It was an incredible performance for the 29-year-old center. Towns scored 32 points, grabbed 20 rebounds, and made all five of his three-point tries. The Knicks won in blowout fashion by the score of 133-107.
Due to Towns returning to his old stomping grounds, Mikal Bridges’ performance may have went a tad under the radar. It continued Mikal Bridges’ turnaround this season after a disappointing start with his new team.
December To Remember For Mikal Bridges
Mikal Bridges’ Turnaround Of Disappointing Start Continues In December
While Towns was the talk of the night, the 28-year-old Bridges had an excellent performance as well. The final numbers included 12-18 from the field (4-8 from beyond the arc) for 29 points, six rebounds, and six assists. He was a game-high +35 in his 36 minutes.
That has helped to continue a trend where he has performed well in the month of December. The current NBA ironman has played eight outings thus far in the current month. In that time, Bridges has averaged 22.1 points on wonderful efficiency (58.1% from the field, 43.1% from three-point range). He has scored no less than 17 points in a game in December. New York has a 6-2 record in the month.
In five of the eight contests, Bridges has shot over 60% from the field. In the two he shot less than 50%, he was one field goal made shy of surpassing 50%.
Prior To December, Bridges Struggled From Deep
Leon Rose and the Knicks front office made a bold move during the offseason acquiring Bridges from the Nets. It took five first round picks to get their state rivals to make the deal. Incredibly, it was the first time that the two teams made a deal with each other since 1983.
Many were astonished by the amount of first round picks that New York gave away for a player who has never been an All-Star. Those that were skeptical of the deal believed they were correct in their assessment to start the season. While he was accurate from inside of the arc, that was far from the case from beyond it. In the 19 games before December, Bridges connected on just 30.6% of his three-point tries. There was much talk before the season began on how Bridges changed his shooting motion, and it seemed as if the change made his shot worse.
He also wasn’t drawing fouls. Bridges attempted a free throw in only six of his first 19 contests. While he’s certainly still not shooting a lot from the charity stripe, Bridges has attempted free throws in five of his eight December games.
It hasn’t just been on the offensive end where change has been seen. Bridges has also shown marked improvement on the defensive side. The runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year in 2021-22, Bridges just wasn’t living up to his standards on that end. More of the player the Knicks thought they were getting as a defender has shown up lately. On Monday, Bridges on numerous instances played lockdown defense on the Orlando Magic’s Jalen Suggs.
The Knicks are 17-10 on the season, good for third place in the Eastern Conference. They next play Friday on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans.
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