Knicks Notes: Bridges, Starters, Brunson, Clarkson

Veteran wing Mikal Bridges has played 625 consecutive games to open his NBA career, by far the longest active streak in the league and one of the longest in history.

While the 29-year-old has publicly downplayed the importance of that streak, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link), Bridges’ recent stretch of poor play and repeated fourth-quarter benchings led a reporter ask head coach Mike Brown whether it might be best for him to give Bridges a night off.

“If our performance group says this guy needs a rest or that guy needs a game to get their body right, mind right, whatever it might be, 100 percent, I’ll give anybody a game,” Brown answered. “That’s something that’s done collectively. I’m not going to say, ‘You sit; you play; you sit; you play,’ because not everybody is the same. But we all have to play better than the way we’re playing right now, especially to start games.”

Bridges is averaging 6.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 blocks on .320/.208/.667 shooting splits in just 26.0 minutes per game across his last six outings. For context, he played at least 31 minutes in 39 of his first 43 games this season; over his last 26 games, Bridges has played 30 or fewer minutes 16 times.

Bridges was benched in favor of Landry Shamet for the final seven minutes of Sunday’s comeback win over Golden State, Bondy writes, and even Jordan Clarkson has played more than him in two of the past three fourth quarters. Both of those players are on minimum-salary deals, while the Knicks gave Bridges a four-year, $150MM extension last offseason after trading five first-round picks to acquire him in the summer of 2024.

“We all have to play better. It’s no secret Mikal has not shot the ball well,” Brown said. “But he’s given us life, at times.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

• In a related story, Bondy points out that Brown has been unhappy with the team’s poor starts in recent games, but the team’s coach isn’t ready to make a change to the starting lineup. New York trailed the injury-ravaged Warriors by 21 points in the first quarter before pulling out a three-point victory. “Right now I don’t feel the need to,” Brown said Sunday. “But like I said, if I felt the need to, I would. I don’t feel the need to right now.” Brown reiterated that his focus was more on the overall group rather than Bridges, Bondy notes, but didn’t rule out potential tweaks down the line. “It’s not too late to do anything. And if I feel the need, I will,” Brown said of a lineup change. “I’m not thinking that right now. I’m not concentrating on each individual because, like you said, we’ve started different people at different times.”
• Star point guard Jalen Brunson has been listed as questionable for Tuesday’s matchup vs. Indiana because of right ankle injury management and a neck strain, as Bondy relays. New York has gone 1-4 without its captain and leading scorer this season, Bondy observes, but the Pacers might be without several key players and have lost 13 straight games, though they’ve played hard against the Knicks this season after eliminating them in last year’s Eastern Conference final.
• After Sunday’s game, in which the veteran guard had 14 points in 22 minutes, Clarkson discussed staying prepared for his opportunity after being out of the rotation for most of the past several weeks, Bondy writes.”I’ve been doing the same thing my whole career in terms of my consistency of, coming to the gym, getting shots up, getting ready,” Clarkson said. “The work’s been solid and consistent, and I think I just hold my hat on that and let the cards fall where they may.”