How is Mikal Bridges going to fare because the No. 1 possibility in opposition to a playoff-level protection?
It’s fairly easy for a Nets group dealing with an uphill battle of their upcoming first-round playoff matchup in opposition to Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers: Bridges has thrived as Brooklyn’s main scorer, averaging 27 factors per sport for the reason that Kevin Durant commerce.
But can he do it within the playoffs as the point of interest of an opposing group’s scouting report? Can he do it when the opponent has had every week to organize?
The Nets imagine so.
“He’s carried on as business as usual for us. My conversation with him is he’s going to get the same shots as we’ve had before,” Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn stated after Nets observe on the HSS Training Facility on Thursday. “We’re confident he’s going to make those shots. Nothing changes from that aspect. You try to predict who is going to guard him, what he’s good at and how you can combat some of those things. For us, he’s been a part of games at a high level before. I think he’s determined enough to accept the challenge.”
Bridges has championship expertise. He was a part of a 2020-21 Phoenix Suns group that went to the NBA Finals and misplaced to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks, 4-2.
He was the fourth scoring possibility on that group, nonetheless, behind Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul. Now in Brooklyn, Bridges has ascended to go-to man standing. His skills may give the Nets a preventing probability as underdogs in opposition to the presumptive league Most Valuable Player and a Sixers group with championship aspirations.
And make no mistake: The Sixers will deal with him as such. Players in Philadelphia have already described the “five-man” effort it’s going to take to gradual Bridges down.
“I don’t know what exotic [defense] is, but like, it’s going to be tough for sure,” Bridges stated. “I mean, I know how it is, I know how game-planning for top players is. I know being the defender guarding the guy, so I know how the scout can be. I mean, it’s a challenge, and it’s great, man. It’s great for all of us. All it’s going to do is make us better.”
Bridges has performed his finest basketball in Brooklyn.
All three of his 40-plus-point video games have come after the commerce, as have 11 of his 13 profession video games with 30 or extra.
P.J. Tucker and Tyrese Maxey, two Sixers starters, noticed his potential in Phoenix. During Thursday’s observe in Camden, each Maxey and Tucker advised reporters they knew there was extra to his sport that wasn’t on show as a result of his function was smaller on the Suns.
But when Booker went down two Christmases in the past with a groin damage that value him 21 straight video games, Bridges stepped up. He led the Suns in scoring at 19.5 factors per sport on 46-38-91 taking pictures splits.
And by means of all of it, he by no means missed a sport.
Vaughn referred to as him the NBA’s Cal Ripken Jr., Major League Baseball’s profession chief in consecutive video games performed. And after coping with the rash of absences from star gamers throughout the Durant and Kyrie Irving period, beginning heart Nic Claxton stated he knew Bridges was for actual — that his manufacturing wasn’t a fluke — when he began to see it on a nightly foundation.
“Him being on the court every single night, especially on back-to-backs, just coming out and scoring 15 points in the first quarter. I mean that’s remarkable,” Claxton stated after observe on Thursday. “We’re tired, we’re getting in from the road and he’s just consistent. He’s been consistent since he’s been with us and we’re really going to lean on him here in the playoffs.”
Bridges all of a sudden finds himself on the cusp of superstardom — and the standing might be cemented with how he fares as an underdog in a sequence the Sixers are closely favored to win, if not outright sweep. It’s the chance of a lifetime, even when Bridges didn’t see it coming.
“Like a goal? A lot of people, everybody just wants to be the best you can be and one day eventually be an All-Star and stuff like that,” Bridges stated when requested if changing into an NBA celebrity was a purpose of his. “But not really. I just try to go out there and hoop and make the right play, make shots and defend, and try to win a game. Obviously there’s more on my plate than it was when I was in Phoenix, but I just look at myself just trying to be aggressive and play hard and try to do the right thing.”
Here’s the factor about playoff defenses: They’re designed to remove your group’s first offensive possibility.
Playoff defenses are extra bodily. More intentional. Tailored particularly to a group’s strengths and weaknesses.
This will mark the third playoffs of Bridges’ profession, however the first the place he would be the focus of a group’s offense.
The Sixers have championship aspirations. Bridges is first on the docket of a protracted listing of gifted NBA stars Philly must include — or flat-out defeat — if the town goes to assert an NBA title this season.
“They’re gonna key in on our sets, and we’re gonna do them as well,” veteran ahead Dorian Finney-Smith stated after Thursday’s observe. “Everybody knows each other plays, everybody’s gonna probably throw a wrinkle in there, a different scout, so you just gotta figure it out as a team. They’re probably gonna guard us differently than they did in the regular season and we’ll probably do the same. It’s gonna be a lot of schemes and whatever team can adjust the quickest and apply it.”
Bridges wasn’t forged for the celebrity function — however he’s about to search out out if the shoe suits.
The Sixers mentioned how they plan to method defending him after Thursday’s observe.
Maxey stated he recalled the Suns drawing up after timeout out-of-bounds performs for Bridges throughout vital late-game possessions. He recommended the Sixers will combine up the coverages they present Brooklyn’s No. 1 scorer.
“He always had game, and now he has to shoot more, have more volume, more confidence, more plays flowing through him,” Maxey advised reporters on Thursday. “It’s gonna be a tough out for us to stop him. We’re gonna have to play him not just one-on-one but a five-man defense. You’ve got to see a crowd every single time that you catch the ball.”
Tucker, a veteran journeyman who has performed for six completely different groups, stated Bridges was the sort of participant whose sport was greater than the function given to him in Phoenix.
“I think he’s always been good,” Tucker stated on Thursday. “I think he’s been able to show his full game now whereas in Phoenix, he was just kind of playing a role. Here, he’s kind of opened his wings a little bit. You know he can really play.”
Bridges is prepared for the problem, and the Nets’ admittedly slim odds at successful their first-round playoff sequence in opposition to the Sixers hinge on their star’s skill to attain on a protection that can be tailor-made to his strengths.
He’s been on the opposite facet of the scouting report, tasked with defending an opposing group’s finest participant.
Now, he’s the one being game-planned for.
“We believe in his talent 100 percent,” stated Spencer Dinwiddie. “I know this is a first for him in terms of being maybe the No. 1 option on a playoff team, but he’s been to the Finals, man. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s a very mature guy and had great success in college and hasn’t missed a game. You guys know the story. So I don’t think that’s gonna shake him at all.”
“I think it’s just going to bring out the best of him, honestly for all of us,” added Finney-Smith. “A lot of us are in different roles than we’ve been in even in the beginning of the season. It will bring out the best of him. I’m excited to watch.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com