In his first preseason as the member of the New York Knicks, Mikal Bridges shot just 2 for 19 (10.5%) from beyond the arc in 106 minutes. For a 37.5% career 3-point shooter, this was surprising. Maybe it was just a cold streak in a bunch of meaningless exhibition games. Heading into the regular season, though, there was concern that Bridges had changed his shooting form for the worse.
He didn't exactly quell those fears when, last week, he told reporters that he'd been trying to shoot more like he did in college, via The Athletic's James Edwards. And during the season opener against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, the conversation about his shot got much louder.
Bridges missed his first five shots in Boston, including four 3s. On the TNT broadcast, analyst Reggie Miler repeatedly drew attention to Bridges' form. After the fourth missed 3, Miller said, "None of these shots are even close." In the third quarter, though, Bridges cashed a corner 3 and found his rhythm. He slipped a screen and made a layup. He made a midrange jumper over Al Horford, too, then another corner 3 with Derrick White closing out on him. In the fourth quarter, he beat Xavier Tillman off the dribble for a layup, then made a tough runner over Jaylen Brown.
Here are all of his field goal attempts:
Bridges' final stat line, after going scoreless in the first half: 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting (including 2-for-7 from deep), two assists, 35 minutes. It was not an amazing debut, but it did not turn out to be a particularly inefficient one. The Knicks had much bigger problems in the 132-109 loss, a game in which they trailed by as many as 35 points. Afterward, New York forward Josh Hart spoke up for his teammate.
"We don't care about all the background noise about Mikal, his shot," Hart told reporters, via SNY. "We don't care about it. He puts the work in every day. He's going to be good. The talk around it is stupidity. There's stupidity to it because, at the end of the day, he's been almost a 40% career 3-point shooter. The talk around it is stupid, and we're not really going to entertain it."
Bridges said he was able to get going after he saw the first one go through the hoop.
"Man, my teammates keep finding me," he told reporters, via SNY. "Just making one, I think that's pretty much it. Just making one, it's just like letting the lid off."
Ideally for Bridges and the Knicks, this storyline will go away quickly and seem laughable by the end of the season. New York traded five first-round draft picks for him in the summer in part because he has been an extremely reliable floor spacer. On catch-and-shoot 3s, he shot 40.5% in 2020-21, 38.3% the next season, then 38.8% and 38.5%. The Knicks gained the ability to play 5-out when they traded for Karl-Anthony Towns, but in the process lost Donte DiVincenzo, who had been the best shooter on the roster. They need Bridges to be the same kind of threat he has been in recent years, and they certainly can't let teams get away with hiding their bigs on him. Boston likes to experiment with unconventional matchups, but it was notable that it started a few possessions with Luke Kornet or Horford on Bridges.
So is Hart right? Is this entire subject of discussion stupid? If Bridges continues to play like he did in the second half of the Celtics game, it will sure seem like it. Given his track record, though, and given that his preseason quote about his form was so confusing, it would be pretty weird to not discuss this.
Bridges' career has been a story of continual improvement, both in college and in the pros. It has been strange to see him seemingly struggle with this particular skill, given that there did not appear to be an issue with his shot previously. His form has never been as pretty as, say, Klay Thompson's, but, for years, he has had a smooth, quick, high release, and the results were there. It is entirely possible that his misses have been more about him getting accustomed to his new environment than any tweaks he might have made in the offseason, and it's entirely possible that people are overanalyzing his mechanics. But Bridges will have to prove it.