Coming off of his hottest shooting performance in nearly a month, a night that saw him start six of six from the field in the first quarter, New York Knicks starting shooting guard Mikal Bridges seemed a bit off from his usual upbeat self in the postgame.
Bridges kept his answers to MSG Network’s Alan Hahn’s questions short but not necessarily sweet, without so much as breaking a smirk while recapping the Knicks’ down-to-the-wire victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
“Just trying to play hard,” Bridges said when asked about his aggressiveness in the outing.
“That’s it? Simply?” Hanh prodded further before being dismissed by another, “That’s it,” and, “Thank you,” before Bridges walked back to the locker room.
Back in the locker room, Bridges delivered more of the same short, dry responses regarding his play.
“Just playing hard,” Bridges reiterated to the crowd of microphones before him with his eyes on the floor.
The source of his atypical stoic demeanor could be a number of things.
Maybe it’s a simple case of Bridges just trying to play it cool following a game that should be the standard for a player of his caliber – a player who was acquired for five first-round picks (and one pick-swap) just this past summer.
Or maybe it’s a case of the blues, brought on by unwanted outside noise from fans and media who are holding him to that standard, sometimes to an unfair extent.
Bridges’ 19 points in the first quarter shattered his highest scoring mark for any one quarter in a Knicks uniform, while his 28 for the game was the highest he’s tallied since New York got perhaps their most dominating win of the season over the Memphis Grizzlies on Jan. 27.
Speaking of whom, the Knicks will be heading to Memphis for their sole FedExForum foray of the season in their next matchup. Hopefully, Mikal Bridges will bring the same energy on the court as the last game—but a different one off of it.
