SALT LAKE CITY — Mikal Bridges found out why he did not return to Saturday’s sport.
The Knicks import starter endured his hardest capturing sport of the season, and he did not play for the ultimate 10:03 minutes. a 121-106 defeat towards the Jazz.
Bridges scored a season-low seven factors on 3-of-15 capturing, together with six misses, on seven-of-3 makes an attempt in 33 minutes. He sat in favor of veteran guard Cam Payne down the stretch.
“In fact our largest objective, clearly I used to be struggling, however our largest objective is to win,” Bridges stated after the sport. “Cam got here in and he was taking part in nicely. He was a part of this workforce which carried out this race.
“I used to be extra simply pissed off that I could not be there to assist the workforce and pissed off that I could not do a lot within the first three quarters. However sure, I perceive it. We’re attempting to win a sport, and that is all I care about, so I feel it was the suitable resolution.
Tom Thibodeau stated he caught with Payne — who scored 11 factors with 5 assists in 31 minutes off the bench — as a result of he introduced the vitality wanted, particularly throughout a 17-0 run which introduced the Knicks inside two late within the third quarter.
“I used to be simply on the lookout for something that will get us began,” Thibodeau stated. “And it wasn’t simply Mikal. I assumed Cam got here in and he gave us an enormous spark. I nearly went again to Jericho [Sims] on the finish as a result of I assumed his minutes had been additionally good for us. While you go downhill like we did, you are simply on the lookout for something to maintain you going. That is actually what we had been doing.
Bridges, who was acquired from the Nets over the summer time, entered Saturday’s sport main the NBA in taking part in time with 38.6 minutes per sport.
His earlier lowest rating was an eight-point effort towards the Pacers on November 10.
