{"id":718505,"date":"2026-04-26T10:57:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/718505\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T10:57:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:57:25","slug":"mike-brown-sticks-with-starting-mikal-bridges-but-benches-him-down-stretch-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/718505\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Brown sticks with starting Mikal Bridges but benches him down stretch again"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 Mike Brown began the game the same way, keeping his starting unit intact.<\/p>\n

But notably, he also ended the game the same way to continue the growing concern around Mikal Bridges.<\/p>\n

After acknowledging ahead of Game 4 that the Knicks were considering shaking up the starting unit, Brown stuck with his guns and kept Bridges in the starting lineup. <\/p>\n

Bridges recorded eight points in 19 minutes in the Knicks\u2019 114-98 win over the Hawks<\/a> on Saturday night at State Farm Arena to even the series at 2-2.<\/p>\n

\"NickeilNickeil Alexander-Walker steals the ball from Mikal Bridgets during the Knicks\u2019 114-98 Game 4 win over the Hawks on April 25, 2026 in Atlanta. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve won a lot of games with the starting group,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to panic and just change anything. Obviously, we changed some stuff strategy-wise, but I didn\u2019t want to change anything with the starting group because I didn\u2019t feel a need to.\u201d<\/p>\n

If those 19 minutes seem odd for a starter, there is a reason for that. After Bridges checked out with 7:34 left in the third quarter, he was benched the rest of the way. Miles McBride was on the floor in his place.<\/p>\n

It mirrored the end of the Knicks\u2019 Game 3 loss, when Bridges was benched \u2014 similarly for McBride \u2014 for the vast majority of the second half.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, I just felt that [McBride] had it rolling,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThey were gonna double Jalen [Brunson]. When they did, [McBride] hit some big 3s. So if a guy has it rolling, he may have a chance to stay out on the floor, that\u2019s all it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

To begin the playoffs, it seemed like Jose Alvarado was out of the playoff rotation. But he\u2019s crept back in \u2014 and is making an impact.<\/p>\n

\"JoseJose Alvarado is held back by Mike Brown after he got into a bit of a dustup with Mouhamed Gueye in the first quarter of the Knicks\u2019 114-98 Game 4 win over the Hawks, forcing the Atlanta forward into a technical foul. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

He recorded six points in 14 minutes Saturday. <\/p>\n

He also brought a bit of his trademark snarl \u2014 soon after checking in for the first time at the end of the first quarter, he got into a bit of a dustup with Mouhamed Gueye and forced Gueye into a technical foul.<\/p>\n

His rise has come at the expense of Landry Shamet, whose struggles at the end of the regular season bled into the beginning of the playoffs. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Shamet, who only played in garbage time Saturday, seems to now be out of the rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was huge,\u201d Brown said of Alvarado. \u201cHe hit two big 3s. He was a guy that they were gonna leave open. He works very hard on his 3-point shooting. He took the right shots tonight. And then defensively, he tried to be a pest. What he did out on the floor for us gave us a huge lift, especially when Jalen was out.\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

Brunson surpassed John Starks for the fourth-most total points in the playoffs in franchise history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Mike Brown began the game the same way, keeping his starting unit intact. But notably, he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3768],"tags":[208,7,304,1260,3357,6,11,56381,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-718505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-mikal-bridges","12":"tag-mike-brown","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-playoffs","15":"tag-nba-playoffs-2026","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-knicks","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkknicks","20":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116470655016781427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718505","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=718505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}