New York Knicks fans were excited to see Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns make their official debuts, but both left a lot to be deserved. Bridges' jump shot was terrifying in the first half, which is fitting given it's almost Halloween. He was scoreless at halftime.
Bridges changed his shot form over the summer for whatever reason. The early results haven't made fans confident that the Knicks made the right decision to send the farm to the Nets for Bridges over the summer.
In case you wanted another look at Mikal Bridges’ shooting form pic.twitter.com/GPy0JfIt98
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) October 22, 2024
Bridges looked lost on defense, too. To be fair, the whole team did. New York looked like a team that made a blockbuster trade three weeks ago. Communication was off. The Knicks didn't have an answer for Jayson Tatum, who scored 15 points in the first quarter and dominated Bridges. Tatum finished with 37.
Mikal Bridges underwhelms in official Knicks debut against Celtics
The good news is that Bridges' shot looked better in the third quarter. He hit his first three, but it wasn't enough to offset Boston's 29 threes (one short of setting a new NBA record). He shot 7-of-8 from the field in the second half (2-of-3 from three). At least his shot started to fall, even if the game was already long over at that point.
Bridges finished with 16 points and two assists on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-7 shooting from three. He finished with a +/- of -33, the lowest ever +/- for a Knicks debut. He looked the opposite of the player fans thought he'd be when the trade happened.
The deal supposedly pushed New York further into the contender conversation, but the Knicks fell flat against the reigning champions. Bridges still has plenty of time to prove that New York was wise to save him from Brooklyn (and mortgage its future in the process).
The Knicks can't expect Bridges to play out of his mind on a nightly basis, but he does need to find a way to put together complete games more often than not. You can't be too harsh on him, as it was his first game with a new team, even if the trade happened early in the summer.
New York and Bridges need to take the results of game one on the chin and use the loss as fuel. He can redeem himself on Friday when the Pacers come to town.
Grade: D+ (the second half saved him from it being an F)