Joel Embiid (ankle sprain; hip soreness) was just officially ruled out for Wednesday night's Game 2 out at Madison Square Garden, leaving Tyrese Maxey as the unquestioned primary point of attack for the New York Knicks defense.
With this, seeing a big night from Mikal Bridges now becomes all the more important.
As seen in Monday's series opener, Maxey was one of the veteran forward's primary defensive assignments. The results proved rather lavish, as the point guard didn't cash in on a single field goal until roughly midway through the second quarter and was held to just 13 points on a putrid 33.3 percent shooting on the night.
With no Embiid in the fold, the obvious course of action for Philadelphia's offensive game plan will presumably be to heavily lean on guys like Paul George, Maxey, and rookie VJ Edgecombe.
Considering OG Anunoby already has the former as his primary assignment, it'll be up to the likes of Josh Hart and Bridges to slow down the Sixers' backcourt tandem, with Bridges, in particular, taking on the critical assignment of Philly's de facto number one option in Maxey.
Mikal Bridges once again rising to the occasion in playoffs for Knicks
It's more than fair to say that Bridges' second season with the Knicks has been highly uninspiring.
From his wildly infuriating shooting woes to his highly volatile scoring production, the 29-year-old's play has seriously called into question whether the trade cost that it ultimately took for Leon Rose and company to attain his services from the Nets back in 2025 was actually worth it, or whether the front office was jipped.
While he's still not completely out of the woods, Bridges is slowly reminding fans and pundits that though he may not be a star player, he's established himself as a playoff riser since joining the ball club.
He proved himself as such last season in all three rounds of action, especially in New York's upset semifinal series win over the Celtics.
Now, here in the 2026 postseason, he's once again being found putting his best foot forward, particularly over these last two games, where, in the series-clincher against the Hawks, he posted 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting from deep in only three quarters and, in the series opener against Philadelphia, he dropped 17 points while, as already noted, throwing Maxey off his game.
Though there's still plenty more that needs to be done before the Knicks come close to being vindicated for striking on the Bridges blockbuster deal, with his standout production both in last year's playoff run and recently in this year's excursion, they certainly seem to be on the right track.
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