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This is Mikal Bridges in a Suns jersey late in a tight game, standing in the corner away from the action waiting for the kick-out. And this is Bridges in his 3rd game as a Brooklyn Net, one on one against Jimmy Butler, he does the shake and bake on him and hits the and-one. He scored 45 in this game which is his career high, and since joining the Nets, Mikal had 11 games with more than 30 points, compared to just 2 in 4 and a half years with the Suns.
What Happened to Mikal Bridges, and how he’s transforming into a real star player for the Nets. Let’s break it down.
While in Phoenix, Mikal Bridges was known for his defense, often guarding the best opposing player, putting in the hard work and giving a 100% effort every night. In the clutch, he stays with Luka through the screens and puts a hand in his face which results in a bad miss. Here, he’s posted up against PG, gets bumped by the big man but somehow was able to block the shot from behind. On offense, he would get his points by out-running his defender in transition, like in this situation where he’s in line with Josh Hart but manages to run around him before getting the pass and finishes with the dunk. He’s always on time making the right cut to the rim in the half court offense. Booker gets double-teamed so he passes to Ayton down low, and before he even catches it, Mikal is already sprinting towards the basket, the pass and the lefty dunk. He’s a great finisher inside making 68.2% of his shots in the restricted area.
But he’s mostly known for his ability to get open 3 point shots out of the attention focused on CP3 and Devin Booker. Most of these are catch and shoot 3’s, however we saw flashes of him being able to create his own shot when needed, mainly in the absence of the all-stars or due to the shot clock expiring. Bridges averaged 17.2 PPG / 4.3 RPG / 3.6 APG in 56 games for the Suns this season before being traded to the Nets as a part of the package for KD. He was also considered as one of the more efficient guys in the league, shooting a decent 46.3% from the field, 38.7% from long range and 89.7% on free throws.
Ever since joining the Nets, he blossomed, and got better in almost every statistical category. In his very first appearance against Philly, we saw what Mikal is capable of with the ball in his hands.
Here, he gets the ball on the left wing, Claxton comes up for the screen and the handoff, Bridges gets it back and makes the running jumper over Joel Embiid. Later, they run the same play and again, Mikal gets to his comfortable mid-range spot and hits the shot over Joel.
In his career night against Miami, his offensive arsenal was on full display as we see him sizing up Strus for the pull-up jay.
In the 3rd, he gets the ball in the corner, freezes the defender with the shot fake, goes inside, pauses as another defender flies by before laying it in.
Next we got the off ball screen by Claxton for Bridges to curl around him either for the jump shot or for the penetration to the rim. He gets the ball with Butler on his back, turns on the jets and lays in the finger roll. And finally against Robinson, dances, blows by him, stops on a dime and swishes it.
Against the Magic a month later, although in a losing effort, Mikal dropped 44 points on 66.7% shooting from downtown.
And, just 5 days later in Brooklyn he burned the Hawks with yet another 40+ points masterpiece.
Look at his confidence, he stares down his opponent, dribbles past him, stops, turns and drains the fadeaway.
The main role in Brooklyn after Durant and Irving’s departures was open for grabs, and Mikal emerged as the leader.
Heis usage rate skyrocketed to 29% compared to the 19% of the time he had the ball in Phoenix. His production increased while keeping and improving his efficiency.
Having the ball in his hands a lot more, he’s fully embracing it and he is posting a phenomenal 27.1 PPG / 4.7 RPG / 2.7 APG on 47.5% FG / 37.6% 3PT/ 89.4% FT shooting splits. That’s impressive. Bridges is averaging more points than KD and Kyrie ever since the trades, are you kidding me!? Ok, Durant appeared in only 8 games, but c’mon, we gotta give this man his credit. I dedicated a whole video about his playing style on both ends of the floor about a year and a half ago in which I ask the question, does Mikal Bridges have another gear to unlock. And boy, his blistering hot performances in the Nets uniform for sure has answered my doubts. He’s getting more spotlight from the media as well, as he was announced the Eastern Player of the week and flew in the conversation for the Most Improved Player of the year. Given the keys to the franchise, Bridges kept the Nets above the play-in zone. With the 6th seed they’ve set themselves a date with the 76ers.
45 Comments
Huge respect for anyone who actually plays every game in today's NBA. "Load management" shouldn't be allowed as far as I am concerned.
now you put the kd curse on bridges
Dude is a future All-Star
dude should have been an all star this year… id take him over zion and luka any day
I miss the nerf hoop
So, did the sun's get better adding Durant and weakening the bench? It sure looks like the Nets got a whole lot better, getting rid of Durant and irving.. It will be poetic justice if nets go farther than both the mavericks and the sun's 😅
I certainly hope so, the league is better overall when players like bridges comes up like he has
Real suns fans knew what bridges was capable of. Still mad about the trade.
As a suns fun, Mikal already developed as the first/second finisher when phoenix stroke hard by injurie before the trade. Man, we love Mikal in phoenix but I have to say with Book and CP3, Mikal never got a chance to play as a shooting guard where he fits the best. He is definitely at allstar level right now (although I still believe he need working on his ball handling).
You have the hardest outro
Suns fans already knew he was getting better this year, when everybody got hurt he had to step up and was having insane nights. Him going to Brooklyn really just unlocked him. Miss the twins :c
This nets team is fun again
Sports to the wire had this video weeks ago.
Baby Kawhi (minus load management) is a much better comparison
Would love to see the player he ends up as, such a likeable dude as well. The comp is much more Kawhi to me, got traded for durant but the player is similar to Kawhi. Great video
I'm a suns fan, it really hurts to lose him for a long run
He was always good, he just didn’t get the chance.
Nets won that trade since Durant is well over 30 and injury prone. For Suns it’s this season or never.
baby durant is so disrespectful at this point we hand everyone the name baby durant now
I said at the trade that Mikal be as good as KD – I got a lot of grief. He is one of my favourite players. Good Vid.
Also he played every game in the season. Actually 83 games.. since he got traded
Mikal was our second best player next to Booker ..then Cam Johnson…..when Booker wasnt haven't a good night Mikal would score🔆💪…If Monty left Mikal in the game longer he would of been where he is now with the PPG💯
Oh. So all this time that Ballhog holding his teammates back was Booker ….
Dame should go to Brooklyn
As a Suns fan I didn’t like the trade at first because he was a fan favorite and he never complained but looking at it now im happy he got traded he’s dominant in the east and i like seeing him doing well and i can assure that almost all of the suns fan are happy for him
Sixers taking this series but without feeling the full effect of Bridges and even Dinwiddie. I say Sixers in 5.
A year or two ago Jxmyhighroller posted a video about how top NBA players basically choose how many points they want to score in a game. Like if a player genuinely decides "I'm gonna go and score 50 tonight" they will go out there, take all the shots, and score 50. It's not really a matter of if they're capable of doing it at will, but more so whether or not it's the right decision for the team because it might not be an efficient 50 points, and they might not be making the highest percentage play on any given possession etc. The video really changed my perspective about the game.
And I think what's happening with Mikal is another aspect of the same concept. It's not that he wasn't capable of doing what he's doing now when he was in Phoenix. They just didn't give him the opportunity. They already had a system in place and a proven player in Devin Booker to lead the offense, so they just stuck with it, really without even considering that they literally had another player that was just as capable of being the main guy right under their noses. It really just goes to show how good these players are in general, that when given the opportunity, any of them could go out put up insane averages.
Probably 100 players in this league that don't average 30ppg could if they were given the opportunity. Scoring isn't hard now you just need to get the shots up. Love me some bridges though he's killing it!
that generation of villanova players is insane
Durant is already a baby..
This was a great trade. We are set up nice with Bridges and all those draft picks. Brooklyn is a great place to live and work. It’s nice to see players that want to be here! Goodbye Ben Simmons- please release him asap!!!!
I Love Mikal but was he guarding Luka when the Suns lost to the Mavs last year?
Not only he has become a start before our eyes but this man is durability is different as well.
So happy for Mikal getting the full chance to show his full potential
He's a DeMar
He deserves The Most Improved Player !
That 3 celebration is fire, smooth signature move
Teammate Cam Thomas is big mad.
Bridges can ball
I think a lot of NBA players can do this if they had the green light. They can turn it up if they need to be the 1 or 2 option. We've seen players turn it down too if they're playing with known higher stars. Chris Bosh and Kevin Love's both switch to support roles when they joined Lebron.
he got so happy cause he was traded for kevin durant and now is compared to kevin durant!
This goes to show what role players are really capable of but they are just playing a role that certain teams need. But some of these guys if given the opportunity to lead a team would surprise you with what they can do.
I still think Nets won the trade from suns and mavs… Suns bench is paper thin now and no way starters playing 40min every playoff game. There is a reason they're called the Hamstring Five. And Mavs, we all know what happened after the trade
his celebration at 3 is hilarious but at least its original 😂😂😂
suns gave their jaylen brown for durant
what i like about his game is his cutting angles on the offball movement
The real MIP