{"id":42275,"date":"2025-05-19T02:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T02:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/42275\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T02:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T02:50:09","slug":"knicks-notes-bridges-pacers-storylines-key-moments-hart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/42275\/","title":{"rendered":"Knicks Notes: Bridges, Pacers Storylines, Key Moments, Hart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bridgmi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mikal Bridges<\/a>, acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Nets in the offseason, played a huge role in the Knicks\u2019 second-round series triumph over the Celtics.\u00a0 He averaged 14.7 points, including 34 total points in fourth quarters, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/18\/sports\/mikal-bridges-finally-becoming-difference-maker-the-knicks-need\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jared Schwartz of the New York Post<\/a> notes.<\/p>\n<p>He also made enormous defensive stops, stealing the ball away from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jaylen Brown<\/a> to end Game 1 and intercepting a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jayson Tatum<\/a> pass to end Game 2. Bridges is thirsting for more as the Knicks enter the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pacers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s more to go,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cWe\u2019re not done. That\u2019s what it is. We came out there [Friday night] to play hard and handle business, but our season\u2019s not over. We\u2019ve got so much more to go and we play on Wednesday, so get ready to prepare for them. Whole different team and a whole new series.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We have more on the Knicks:<\/p>\n<p>They, of course, will be looking to avenge their second-round series loss to the Pacers last season, in which they blew a 2-0 lead in the process. However, the Knicks were riddled with injuries by that point. In contrast, New York has all its pieces entering this series, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/18\/sports\/the-key-storylines-in-knicks-pacers-eastern-conference-finals\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Schwartz<\/a> points out. Pace and 3-point shooting will also be key components to the series.<br \/>\nHow did the Knicks turn into a contender? <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/17\/sports\/the-moves-that-turned-knicks-from-joke-into-title-contender\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Post columnist Mike Vaccaro<\/a> takes a closer look at how they were built, starting with the hires of Leon Rose as GM and Tom Thibodeau as head coach. From a roster standpoint, their zeal to sign <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brunsja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jalen Brunson<\/a> in free agency in 2022 proved to be the pivotal decision.<br \/>\nFiery, hard-nosed wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hartjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.hoopsrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-05-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Josh Hart<\/a> has become a huge fan favorite and his popularity continues to grow, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/18\/sports\/knicks-josh-hart-has-become-the-peoples-choice-during-nba-playoffs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Vaccaro<\/a> notes. The picture of Hart with a defiant look on his bloodied face after he caught an errant elbow epitomizes the toughness and grit of the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikal Bridges, acquired in a blockbuster deal with the Nets in the offseason, played a huge role in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,288,327,7093,1260,1416],"class_list":{"0":"post-42275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-jalen-brunson","10":"tag-josh-hart","11":"tag-leon-rose","12":"tag-mikal-bridges","13":"tag-tom-thibodeau"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114532229126078863","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42275","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=42275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}