Knicks Notes: Bridges, Shamet, Anunoby, Towns

The Knicks‘ decision to give up five first-round picks in a trade for Mikal Bridges has been relitigated frequently over the past couple years, but it’s time to “let that argument die,” according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, who contends that the veteran forward is showing in this postseason why the team was right to pay the price it took to acquire him.

After scoring 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting on Saturday, Bridges has now compiled 59 points with a ridiculous .711/.500/1.000 shooting line through three games vs. Cleveland while serving as the primary defender on James Harden. The 29-year-old hasn’t put up the scoring numbers in New York that he did in Brooklyn, but that’s because the Knicks haven’t asked him to be that kind of go-to-offensive option, Edwards says, pointing out that Bridges has excelled in the role the team wants him to play.

“The expectations don’t matter,” Knicks forward Josh Hart said in reference to Bridges. “That’s for y’all to talk about. There’s nothing he can do about it. He didn’t call (Knicks president) Leon (Rose) and say, ‘Yo, this is the trade package!’ He got put into this situation, and he hit the ground running. We wouldn’t be in this situation without him. Look, how many games has he won for us because he got a stop down the stretch? He’s won games in every single way for us. That’s why we wanted him. That’s why he’s here.”

We have more on the Knicks:

• After being out of the rotation early in the postseason, veteran wing Landry Shamet continues to solidify his spot among Mike Brown‘s regulars. On Saturday, Shamet logged a playoff-high 28 minutes and scored 14 points, knocking down a trio of fourth quarter three-pointers that helped seal the victory, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. “Landry was huge,” Brown said after the victory. “And then on the other end of the floor, he’s gotta match up with a guy like Donovan Mitchell, who is a tough cover for anybody. You’re not gonna stop him, but you gotta work your tail off. Landry’s trying to work.”
• OG Anunoby was up and down in his first two games back from the hamstring injury that sidelined him in the second round, but he looked back to his usual self in Game 3, according to Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Anunoby scored 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. “Each day I started feeling better and better. We have a great medical staff,” Anunoby said. “Getting stronger each day. Great team, great coaches. It’s been very collaborative.”
• While the Cavaliers defended against it in the first two games of the series, the Knicks turned back to Karl-Anthony Towns as their offensive facilitator in Game 3 and he responded by handing out more assists (seven) than he totaled in Games 1 and 2 (six), Braziller notes in another Post story. “KAT, he was our hub offensively: seven assists, zero turnovers,” Brown said. “He was really good for us offensively and defensively with three steals.”