Top-rated Knicks offense finally gets boost fans have been impatiently waiting for

It was the New York Knicks' turn to hand the injury-depleted Pelicans another loss on Sunday. New Orleans dropped its eighth game in a row with Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Herbert Jones, Jose Alvarado, and Jordan Hawkins sidelined. It was the perfect time for a certain Knicks starter to have their best game of the season.

New York made two surprise trades over the summer, starting with Mikal Bridges and ending with Karl-Anthony Towns. The latter was traded a few days before training camp, but he's off to a hot start with the Knicks. Unfortunately, fans haven't been able to say the same for Bridges, who entered the season with high expectations.

The wing was benched in the fourth quarter on Friday against the Hornets. Bridges finished with eight points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field and 1-of-4 from deep in 37 minutes. Two days later, everything changed.

Bridges wasn't subbed out early because he was struggling. Instead, he scored a season-high 31 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field and 7-of-12 from three. He walked off the court early, but that was because New York routed New Orleans, and Tom Thibodeau was in a good mood.

Mikal Bridges drops season-high 31 points as Knicks beat Pelicans

New York has the best offensive rating in the league (121.1) despite Bridges struggling for most of the early season. Everyone knew the Knicks' offense would thrive with KAT at the five, but they didn't suspect Bridges would be an offensive liability. It turns out it was premature to write Bridges off.

Some fans who are still mad about what New York gave up to get Bridges are likely still not impressed, considering his performance came against a lowly New Orleans squad. However, that doesn't matter. He desperately needed to see his shot fall to help his confidence.

Things have taken a while to click with New York, and there is still work to be done. That isn't unusual for a team that made two major offseason trades and is dealing with injuries to key players.

Bridges has received more criticism than usual because of what the Knicks gave up to get him, but that wasn't in his control. It's taken longer than expected for him to get into a flow offensively, and one game isn't enough. It's his job to build on Sunday's outing, starting with Tuesday's NBA Cup game against the Magic.