Knicks Give Multiple Updates... It's Insane This is Happening Again

Mikal Bridges has 10 points throughout three games this NBA season and if you are a Knicks fan you already know the feeling it's happening again he is 5 for 23 from the field he is 0 for 10 from 3 the defending champions are 0 and 3 and the question fans are asking is whether the Knicks should explore moving on from Mikal Bridges but guys I went back through the playoffs and I think the numbers say very different stay for that because we have the best proof possible you should not panic, and that it's absolutely ridiculous that this is happening again with Mikal Bridges and fans are turning on him again, as the Knicks have given multiple updates. Now look, as I said, the New York Knicks, they're in a weird spot with Mikal Bridges because it feels like fans do this every single year with him. So let's actually start with the bad numbers because it is bad. Guys, in the opener against Philadelphia, he scored four points on two for eight shooting from the field. On October 23rd in Boston, he was held scoreless in 22 minutes, going 0-8 from the field and 0-5 from three. Then on Sunday against Orlando, it was a 1-11 to 1-02 loss. He had six points on 3-7 shooting, 0-3 from three, and he was minus 23 in 35 minutes. That six points was his season high and, 60% of the points he scored this season. Add it all up, 10 points, 5-23, which is 21.7% from the field and 0-10 from three this year. That's not who he is. Last season, he made 37.1% of his threes over 82 games, 0-for-10 is a cold start, but it's been a loud one because Mikal has gone through cold stretches before, and Knicks fans panic when he does. Mike Brown is standing by him, though. After Boston, he said Bridges had, quote, three or four wide-open threes, and that, quote, we want them to make half of them if they're open, and he's got to keep shooting, which we know Bridges, to a degree, will never fully stop shooting when he's open. He knows it's an efficient shot, and he knows he's going to take it. And before Sunday's game, Mike Brown made it clear that he isn't changing the starting lineup Bridges is still starting and he will continue to start and he played big minutes after 35 against Orlando the coach is giving him every chance to fix it on the floor and it's not just him though is the thing Jalen Brunson did score 28 points against Orlando but it also took him 28 shots to do it making 12 of those and after the game Brown said quote our crap stinks it does and we're the only ones that can do something about it so yes guys the start is ugly. But why is the anger this big after three games? Let's get into that after a very quick word. Guys, right now, Kelsey has the New York Knicks at a 9% chance to win the NBA championship. And if you think that is too low after an 0-3 start, well, that's exactly where Kelsey comes in. And I want to thank them for sponsoring this video. 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It was the cost of the trade that brought him to New York. The Knicks sent Brooklyn five first-round picks to get him in 2024 then last july he signed a four-year 150 million dollar extension and fans have seen what he can do on christmas day 2024 he scored 41 points against san antonio that's the version of bridges people remember and every cold night gets measured against it that's a price tag for a star right there as well what fans keep asking is where's the scoring last year he averaged 14.4 points a game he was at 15 a game through 68 games then 10.8 points and 32% from three in the 13 games after the All-Star break, and in March, he went scoreless in 27 minutes against the Los Angeles Lakers in LA. SNY wrote that he was, quote, often avoiding contact at the rim and taking fadeaway turnaround jumpers in the paint. In 150 games as a New York Knick, he attempted 202 free throws. In his last season in Brooklyn alone, he attempted 317. Now, yeah, he hit the ball more in Brooklyn for sure that's part of this we knew that he was the first option and stuff like that happens but at the same time when we look at the New York Knicks when we look at his role here clearly something's working or they you know wouldn't have won an NBA championship but before they did win an NBA championship guys things actually hit an all-time low in game two against Atlanta he took this the last shot of a 107 to 106 loss and fans were furious because he had room to drive to the paint and instead stepped back and missed and then came three is rock bottom in all-time Mikael Bridges Knicks fan hate moments when he played 21 minutes and scored zero points and sat most of the second half in favor of Deuce McBride who was playing a lot better the Knicks lost 109 to 108 and SNY also noted that Brown has used Landry Shamet in closing situations he didn't against the Hawks then he was using Deuce just before Shamet became the sixth man of the team which happened pretty late and when a coach does give the bench minutes late games fans notice and they remember when the shots stop falling and guys that is the thing here that I do have to talk about when we look at McHale when we look at that after game three things change remember game three I mean I had a crazy reaction after game three I was like Brown should be fired let's let Chris Jan take over and coach the rest of these playoffs we're screwed anyway what does it matter I remember I was walking to the dentist because sometimes I show that I have a fake tooth in my mouth that I like to pull out for jokes but I was walking to the dentist and I passed by a bar that had a Knicks flag outside if you're in New York during the playoffs you see the Knicks flags are outside every sports bar and I was like damn they might take that down in a couple days if this thing doesn't turn around none of us had faith that the Knicks were going to win the NBA finals my hair looks awful and guys that's something that we do have to remember when we look at the Knicks so when a fan watches them go over eight in Boston that's not one bad game it's the same movie they've watched before that's the again but it's never how it ends because how good he is in the playoffs and guys these Knicks Digest subscribers you guys know ball like very few else because we're all here having a great time on this channel and on a video I titled this changes everything Dwayne Lewis one of the best subscribers on this channel one of the best basketball minds in the Knicks Digest universe did say the biggest x factor is Mikal Bridges he has to score more which is true when Mikal plays well the Knicks win games it's not a big thing and on a video title things just took a shocking turn we saw Allen Terlinski 50 wrote what we need another offensive wing that can come into the game when Bridges can't hit the side of the barn and that was before he went scoreless in Boston which is fair and that's what Shamit and Deuce are there for but they also should look at Mohamed Diouara I have a full video coming out on that though so we'll talk about that later on and yeah the criticism is fair SNY wrote that there are moments he feels like a luxury and the Knicks net rating with him on the floor and off is virtually the same last season and that's a hard thing to hear when you're paying guy 150 million dollars and now trade talk is out there, Sean Devaney of Heavy Sports wrote in his big board this week that about how the Knicks could ease their second apron by trading someone who is a heavy financial burden and Bridges would probably be the first player saying the reasoning would be the Knicks could afford to move on from, they could replace him and losing his albatross salary would immediately give the Knicks room to pay everyone else but Devaney also said on the other side of it that the salary is a burden that other teams don't want to take on, so this is one writer's read on what the Knicks could do, not a report that they are shopping him, they're not shopping him, he was such a big part of an NBA Finals team, they're not going to get rid of Mikal Bridges, but that really is what leads me to the next part of this I have been a huge Mikal Bridges supporter the entire time I've obviously been mad at him I think all Knicks fans have gotten mad at him for games and he just hasn't really shown up and done a ton but let's look at the other side of things, the good side because there's more of that, and Bridges, he's been great before. He was holding a trophy on June 13th when the Knicks won the NBA Finals. In the 2026 playoffs, he played 19 games. He averaged 13.5 points, shot 56% from the field, shot 36.5% from three, 92% from the free throw line, and was one of the best defenders in basketball. If you want to check any of these numbers yourself, his full game log is on DigestSports.com. You can go check it out right there. Remember in Atlanta, zero points in Game 3. The benching, the angry fans. Look what he did after it. Over those next 16 games, and the Knicks went on to win the NBA Finals, he averaged 14.7 points, shot 58% from the field, and nearly 40% from three at 39.2%. The very next game, he scored eight points. Two games later in the closeout, he scored 24 on 10 of 12 shooting, and a 140 to 89 win. Remember that game? The fans who were booing him in Game 3 were cheering him by Game 6. This is what happens with McHale. yeah he can be quiet offensively there's also a lot of mouths to feed on the Knicks which is important to note as well and round by round he scored 17.5 a game against Philadelphia 18.5 against Cleveland the conference finals including 22 points on 11 for 15 shooting in a game three that was very close and did come down to the wire even though the Knicks were leading by 10 the majority of the game and even when his shooting nights were bad it didn't sink the team in game four against Cleveland he won four for 16 and one for eight from three and still scored 6-15 in a 130-93 win, and he played excellent defense on Donovan Mitchell all series long. Bridges was one piece, and the Knicks have a lot of pieces, and they built a team of winners, and Bridges is a winner. He averaged 10 points on 46.5% shooting and 42% from three in the NBA Finals. In a series, the Knicks won 4-1. He was excellent in Game 5. Outside of Jalen Brunson, Mikael Bridges and Josh Hart, the Villanova Knicks, they're the only guys who did not play a horrible game that day. Cat was virtually invisible. Mitchell Robinson did not play well outside of the greatest rebound in Knicks history. We saw OG Anunoby disappear for the first time. Deuce didn't hit his threes. Deuce didn't hit his shots. The team did not play well in game five. It was a Jalen Brunson specialty with the Nova Knicks backing him up right there. And he scored 20 points in game two, a game the Knicks won by the skin of their teeth and a bad turnover following a hip check by Victor Wembanyama because he was mad at himself for making a mistake. Now, on top of that, we saw the clincher where he played 39 minutes, scored 14, made three threes in a 94-90 win, including a clutch free throw towards the end of the game. And he wasn't perfect. He scored two points in game three of the finals, the one game the Knicks lost, but also that game was rigged, and seven points in game four where the Knicks barely won on the greatest comeback in the history of one NBA finals game. The point is, his scoring goes up and down, but he keeps helping the Knicks win regardless. We have to remember, yeah, Mikael doesn't always score a ton of points. He's also, his best aspect of basketball is miles and miles and miles away. His defense is elite. The man is a great defender. He can guard four positions. Really, he can guard five because he can guard some centers. He's excellent in a team defensive scheme. He's gotten big steals for the Knicks multiple years in a row in the playoffs. He's always been game. He's always been locking people up. He's always been giving people hell on the defensive side of the ball and he's a winner and he led to the Knicks winning. So look, overall, he had a cold stretch in March, an ugly night in April, and then 16 games of 15 points per game that led in efficiency to a championship win and three games under 4% of an 82 game season. That's what it is. It's under 80. It's under 4% of an 82 game season. The defense is still real. Through mid-March, the Knicks ranked fifth in defensive efficiency. The only thing that really worries me about McHale is the fact that back last year, he was kind of avoiding contact more than he ever had before. That was what had me more concerned than anything else. In the playoffs, he did only attempt 25 free throws in 19 games, made 23 of them. That's about one and a half attempts a night. For a guy making 150, I would like to see that number go up. But look, the Knicks, they're playing Detroit. They then play Chicago back-to-back games and then Philadelphia on Friday. If the threes start falling, but he's still not getting to the line, yeah, it's a little bit concerning. But Mikael's not a big-time free-throw shooter. Cat and Brunson are. Josh Hart gets to the line a decent amount. Deuce knows how to get to the line sometimes. Like, overall, yeah, would I like the Knicks to be better at getting to the free-throw line in a general sense? Absolutely. Does it all fall on Mikal Bridges? Absolutely not. And look, maybe the worst-case scenario is the cold start turns into a cold month, like his tenure in New York began. But then he got it going. He started hitting his shots, and since Mikael Bridges got to the Knicks, they have never gone to less than the conference finals. And one of these includes them winning the NBA championship. So yeah, it's a bad start. It's an awful start. I'm not going to sit here and argue with that. But at the same time, we should not be worried about Mikael Bridges. But I do want to know, are you? And honestly, I don't see a reason to be. I trust Mikael. The Knicks would not have won the finals without Mikal. He is that important to the team. He's that good defensively. defensively. The offense is there, and frankly, I just feel no reason to be concerned whatsoever. The man leads to wins. The Knicks didn't trade five first-round picks for Mikael Bridges to put up 23 points a night like he was doing in Brooklyn. They traded five first-round picks for him because Mikael's a winner. He wins you basketball games, and that's what Leon Rose put together. He traded for OG, not for OG to put up 25 points a game. He traded two young stars for OG in the thought process of OG's a winner. He signed Jalen Brunson because Jalen Brunson's wanted every single level of basketball. He traded for Karl-Anthony Towns because he saw Karl-Anthony Towns as a player who helped them win basketball games as a center. The entire team is full of winners. That is what the Knicks wanted. That is what Mikal is, and the Knicks are going to win games. I don't care about an 0-3 start. The Knicks literally went 2-11 at one point. They won two out of 11 games. They went 2-9 at one point in January. It's fine. They bounced back to the ultimate degree. Stop panicking. We're good. The Knicks are fine. Like this video, subscribe, turn on post notifications. Have a great day, guys, and go Knicks.