Knicks\u2019 94-93 Game 4 win over the Pistons<\/a> on Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\nBoth came during an 8-0 run in the fourth quarter that brought the Knicks from down 11 points to down three points. <\/p>\n
His first cut the Knicks deficit to 79-71 with 8:07 left in the game and his second cut it to 79-76 with 6:34 left. He finished with eight points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it goes to my teammates, just keeping me locked in,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cI know I\u2019m fine and I know it\u2019s gonna come, but they just kept telling me \u2018keep shooting it.\u2019 They keep giving me confidence to go out there. Just try to be aggressive, try to make the right play, make the shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mikal Bridges #25 of the New York Knicks puts up a shot as Tim Hardaway Jr. #8 of the Detroit Pistons defends during the second quarter. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
One teammate in particular was loudest in supporting Bridges.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest is Cam Payne,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cHe\u2019s big on voicing, helping me out. Sometimes, him calling me some not good names helps as well. It just feeds off that. But it\u2019s everybody, man. Like, [Tyler Kolek], I swear it\u2019s everybody. Even Josh [Hart], [Jalen Brunson]. When we\u2019re on the court, they just tell me to stick with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I\u2019m ready. It\u2019s not fun missing and you wait for that next opportunity to shoot again. I appreciate those guys, always.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mikal Bridges of the New York Knicks has his shot blocked by Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons during the second quarter. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
Payne has done little on the court since he erupted in Game 1. But clearly, he\u2019s still finding a way to make an impact. He joked that his comments to Bridges were not PG.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was a little bit more [talking], just because some of his shots were going in and out,\u201d Payne said. \u201cThey were good looks and he normally makes them. Tonight I was a little bit more aggressive on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite his early shooting woes, Bridges was strong defensively throughout the game. <\/p>\n
Mikal Bridges of the New York Knicks dives for a loose ball during the fourth quarter. Charles Wenzelberg\/New York Post<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
And he was key on that side of the ball down the stretch \u2014 with the Knicks up by the final score and under a minute left in the game, Bridges stood up Cade Cunningham, which allowed Hart to strip him for a crucial turnover.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for the entire season, it\u2019s been a steady climb for him,\u201d coach Tom Thibodeau said of Bridges\u2019 defense. \u201cHe\u2019s always had that ability. He\u2019s always been a very good defensive player. He\u2019s got great length and anticipation and he knows how to challenge a shot. He can be very disruptive. He can get to the second and third effort. And, when you have long limbs like that, it makes the defense a lot better. I think that is what\u2019s causing a lot of turnovers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 Mikal Bridges said it best himself. He didn\u2019t sugarcoat how he was playing. \u201cI was playing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,296,188,3860,1260,6,11,197,191,297,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-174379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-pistons","11":"tag-detroitpistons","12":"tag-mikal-bridges","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-playoffs","15":"tag-nba-playoffs-2025","16":"tag-new-york-knicks","17":"tag-pistons","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114862510964162102","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}