After the New York Knicks fell behind 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks, Karl-Anthony Towns went to head coach Mike Brown, and asked whether he could take on more of the team’s playmaking responsibilities. His request was granted, and the rest is literally history. The Knicks have not lost since, and the once-maligned Mikal Bridges is playing so well he has fans yelling some variation of “Shuck them picks!”
Only they’re not saying shuck.
It is no coincidence that Bridges’ offensive rebirth aligns with KAT’s request and subsequent execution. The two events are inextricably intertwined.
Mikal Bridges is thriving within the Knicks’ new offensive flow
While Bridges’ transformation didn’t immediately take place once the Knicks started giving Towns more control of the offense, he has since settled into his wheelhouse.
Putting KAT at the top of the floor, with the ball in hands, does a number of things. Not only does it drag his defender out of the paint, but it deploys Jalen Brunson’s gravity away from the rock. The pull he has off-ball is magnetic, and a huge part of what has allowed him to shape-shift as a scorer and playmaker.
With Towns and Brunson now both applying pressure to defenses at the same time, it has opened cutting and driving lanes for everyone else. Bridges has clearer paths to the basket even during stretches in which Josh Hart is on the floor. He is feasting from the interior as a result.
During this eight-game stretch, Bridges is shooting 85.7 percent on looks inside the paint and at the rim with KAT on the floor. That is a real, live, actual number. And so is this one: Close to 66 percent of all his field-goal attempts are coming inside the paint or closer.
Remove Towns from the court, and Bridges is still efficient at the hoop (10-of-11), but not so much on in-the-paint twos (2-of-7). Equally important, he’s not getting to the basket nearly as often. His rim frequency goes from 43.8 percent with KAT down to 33.3 percent without him.
Mikal Bridges’ breakout is just about Karl-Anthony Towns
This isn’t an attempt to pass the buck on Bridges’ recent play to someone else. Credit must be first and foremost paid to the man himself. He is averaging 19.1 points over the past eight games, on 75 percent shooting inside the arc(!) and 47.9 percent accuracy from behind the rainbow, thanks to a shift in mindset.
Most notably, Bridges is attacking the basket way more often regardless of who he’s playing alongside, both when running the floor and inside the half-court. The importance of this added aggression cannot be overstated. It’s not talked about enough, but it’s allowing OG Anunoby to come along more gradually on offense as he continues working his way back from a hamstring injury.
Bridges is doing all of this while defending his you-know-what off. The sturdy disruption he’s delivering while pestering guys like James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker is attributable to him, and nobody else.
Still, the offensive space, movement, flair, and overall confidence with which he’s playing is also a byproduct of Towns’ new role—a role he only has because he apparently asked for it. And more than anyone else, Bridges should be thrilled that he did.
Add us as a preferred source on Google