Mikal Bridges might be gearing up for a coaching role down the line.
His suggestion turned around the Knicks’ frustrating third-quarter performance.
Following their Game 5 loss, Bridges proposed that the team come out after halftime doing layup lines to dodge the third-quarter slump they’d experienced throughout the series. And, notably, they did just that in Game 6, clinching the series with a 116-113 victory over the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena.
They approached it like a high school team—emerging from the locker room earlier than usual for a classic layup line. It worked, resulting in one of their best quarters of the series, likely only second to that phenomenal 21-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter in Game 1.
On Thursday, they outscored the Pistons 37-24 in the third quarter.
“That’s his new name, ‘Lay Up Line,'” Campain joked. “I know I usually start slow in the third quarter… he said we need everyone to go for these layups. I respect it. It fueled us, and we came out strong.”
Before Game 6, the Knicks had been outscored by 33 points in the third quarter across the first five games of the series.
The tough fourth quarter followed their strong showing in the third, but they managed to recover with an impressive 11-1 run to close the game after allowing the Pistons to go on a 20-2 run earlier.
This set a remarkable shift from their usual pattern in the series, where they’d faltered in the third quarter but found their footing in the fourth.
Looking ahead, they should aim to replicate what worked in the third quarter and learn from it.
“I can’t wait for Game 6 in Detroit, and I hope it’s not just about the layup line,” Karl Anthony Towns remarked. “I mean, if that’s the magic trick, it’s a bit funny, right?”
