{"id":674939,"date":"2026-03-23T18:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T18:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/674939\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T18:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T18:10:21","slug":"josh-hart-hits-back-at-unfair-criticism-toward-knicks-mikal-bridges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/674939\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Hart hits back at ‘unfair’ criticism toward Knicks’ Mikal Bridges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t blame Mikal Bridges for his paltry stats. Blame the role.<\/p>\n

That was the message from teammate Josh Hart, who said the criticism of Bridges is \u201cunfair\u201d since he\u2019s getting even fewer opportunities than even last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been doing what\u2019s been asked of him,\u201d Hart said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve said it before \u2014 when you\u2019re a guy who, for a year and a half [with the Brooklyn Nets] when you\u2019re the No. 1 guy and he\u2019s getting those plays called for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, he didn\u2019t have many plays called for him. This year, he probably has even less plays called for him. So obviously there\u2019s a mental hurdle he needs to get through and that\u2019s something where some of us can help him. I think he gets some of that unfair flak just because he\u2019s doing what\u2019s asked of him. And if we were to sit there and say, go shoot 15 shots a game, he would be efficient and he could do it. But that\u2019s not what\u2019s been asked of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MikalMikal Bridges (25) of the Knicks shoots over the Wizards\u2019 Sharife Cooper (13) on March 22, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

Indeed, Bridges is averaging fewer shot attempts, minutes and points than in his previous three seasons \u2014 including his 1 \u00bd years with the Nets as their top scorer. On the Knicks this season, he\u2019s been the fourth or fifth option. But Bridges was also misfiring with his opportunities and stuck in a deep slump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since the All-Star break, entering Sunday\u2019s win over the Wizards<\/a>, he was averaging just 10.4 points on 40.6 percent shooting and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

And it was worse lately.<\/p>\n

In the eight games before the Knicks\u2019 win over the Wizards on Sunday, Bridges was down to averages of just 7.3 points on 33 percent shooting \u2014 including 25 percent on 3s. So he was taking fewer shots but missing them at a much higher rate since February.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, coach Mike Brown reiterated his belief that Bridges would break out of the slump. The coach said his faith stems from Bridges\u2019 attitude and his long history as a productive player. He had 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting against Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s shown time after time that he\u2019s a high-level player. And he\u2019s done it,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI\u2019ve been around many players who have gone through their ups and downs throughout the course of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he works at it very hard. And he cares at a high level. Usually when you have that combination from a veteran guy that\u2019s produced the way he\u2019s produced in the NBA, it tends to lead to good results, eventually.\u201d<\/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

Still, Bridges\u2019 slide felt more prolonged and severe than the run-of-the-mill funk. And Brown responded by giving Bridges fewer minutes, which was easier since Landry Shamet was surging as the backup.<\/p>\n

One difference Sunday was that the insurance option \u2014 Shamet \u2014 was unavailable. The two-way guard sat for the first time since Jan. 14 because of a knee injury sustained in Brooklyn two nights earlier.<\/p>\n

Shamet\u2019s official injury designation was a sore right knee, which Brown said was banged. It meant opportunities were available for other bench players \u2014 specifically Mohamed Diawara and Jordan Clarkson \u2014 or potentially for Bridges to get more runway to break out of his slump.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are going to be some minutes to grab,\u201d Brown said. Bridges played 30 minutes Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"KnicksKnicks teammates Josh Hart (l.) and Mikal Bridges (r.) Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

Hart wants to help where he can \u2014 but he also noted that Bridges\u2019 reduced role shouldn\u2019t be overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to make sure to get him involved a little bit more, get him the ball when he\u2019s running in transition, get him in position to be successful,\u201d Hart said. \u201cHe\u2019s been doing what\u2019s been asked of him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t blame Mikal Bridges for his paltry stats. Blame the role. That was the message from teammate Josh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,327,304,1260,6,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-674939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-josh-hart","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-mikal-bridges","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-knicks","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkknicks","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116279840348687915","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674939","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=674939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}