PHILADELPHIA — Mikal Bridges’ Struggles Lead to Knicks’ Narrow Victory

In his hometown of Philadelphia, Mikal Bridges had quite a challenging game, finishing with a dismal shooting performance—3-of-16 from the floor and just 1-of-9 from beyond the arc. This came during the Knicks’ close 112-109 victory over the 76ers on Saturday afternoon.

Interestingly, Bridges didn’t see any action in the last 5 minutes and 24 seconds of the contest.

Head coach Mike Brown opted to bring in Landry Shamet and Miles McBride for the crucial moments instead, likely due to Bridges’ and Karl-Anthony Towns’ struggles; Towns had fouled out earlier in the quarter. The Knicks fielded a smaller lineup with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby joining Shamet and McBride.

This rearrangement put Anunoby in the challenging position of guarding Joel Embiid.

“You can’t do something like that without guys like OG,” Brown said, emphasizing Anunoby’s versatility. “OG allows us to play the game of basketball in different ways. So we were able to do that.”

The contributions from Shamet, McBride, and Mitchell Robinson proved valuable, particularly as the Knicks enjoyed a 17-point edge in bench scoring.

“One night, it was [bench scoring], and that would be a huge burden,” Shamet commented. He acknowledged that situations can vary game by game. “The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve said it’s a merry-go-round because we have that group. Some nights, it can be a heavy bench night with us picking up. Other nights, the starters might do well, but the ball doesn’t find us as much. That’s the beauty of our team. Challenges will come, and we’ve just got to adapt,” he added.

In a rough outing, Towns managed only 16 minutes and finished with a minus-6 rating, indicating the team performed better without him on the court.

“We just need others to step up,” Brown said about the team’s need for resilience. “We can’t control the fouls, so if someone gets in foul trouble, the next guy has to be ready to make a play and help us win.”