{"id":128448,"date":"2025-03-13T13:15:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T17:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=128448"},"modified":"2025-03-13T12:40:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T16:40:02","slug":"mikal-bridges-knicks-controversy-ends-game-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/13\/mikal-bridges-knicks-controversy-ends-game-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikal Bridges Knicks Controversy Ends in Legendary Game-Winner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday&#8217;s news cycle for the New York Knicks was perhaps the weirdest of the entire 2020s. Since Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau joined the franchise in 2020, it&#8217;s been a tight-lipped organization with little drama. The players defend their coaches, and the coaches cover for the players. It&#8217;s always been this way. That&#8217;s why it was so shocking when <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bridgmi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mikal Bridges<\/a> went public about his wish for Thibodeau to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/12\/mikal-bridges-tom-thibodeau\/\" target=\"_self\">lessen the minutes&#8217; burden for the starters<\/a>. It got even stranger when the head coach denied having the conversation about minutes with his star wing and emphatically defended his philosophy. While the debate about playing time still stands, the two men silenced the noise with one of the most legendary moments in Knicks history.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thibs on Mikal asking less minutes: &quot;We never had a conversation\u2026facts are facts\u2026Wings play more, matched up w top scorers\u2026Mikal&#39;s minutes down\u2026Gonna come down more\u2026OG elite level, Josh never wants out\u2026Know the matchups\u2026if LeBron&#39;s on floor 40 guy guarding him gonna be 40&quot; <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gQFyBjDp1W\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gQFyBjDp1W<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA_NewYork\/status\/1900002572313698655?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Mikal Bridges Knicks Controversy Ends in Legendary Game-Winner<\/h2>\n<p>In what was likely the craziest game of the Knicks season, New York won on a fadeaway three-pointer by the player embroiled in controversy. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/13\/mikal-bridges-game-winner\/\" target=\"_self\">Bridges<\/a> delivered one of his best performances of the year, posting 33 points and four assists on 13\/21 shooting from the field. Bridges also assisted or scored on six of NY&#8217;s final seven buckets spanning the end of the fourth quarter and overtime. When his team needed him most in the absence of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brunsja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Brunson<\/a>, the former Net turned back the clock to his Brooklyn days. Bridges proved he can be the primary shot creator for this squad while his Villanova teammate heals an ankle injury. When Brunson does return, Bridges should be a much bigger part of the offense than he has been. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/10\/3-knicks-players-step-up\/\" target=\"_self\">Outings like last night&#8217;s showcase his talent<\/a>, which has been suppressed by a smaller role far too often.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MIKAL BRIDGES, ARE YOU SERIOUS!!?<\/p>\n<p>33 POINTS AND THE GAME-WINNING TREY \ud83d\ude24 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7iubWATP1Q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/7iubWATP1Q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nyknicks\/status\/1900048995239580119?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Knicks-Blazers Was One of the Wildest Games of the Year<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>What appeared to be a run of the mill regular season game between a banged up Knicks group and a &#8220;tanking&#8221; Blazers squad suddenly turned into an all-time classic. Portland&#8217;s young, hungry core of players battled to the bitter end, giving New York all they could handle. Even after <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/townska01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a>&#8216; two late threes looked to be the dagger, an absurd sequence of plays allowed the Blazers to claw their way to overtime. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hendesc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scoot Henderson<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/avdijde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deni Avdija<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sharpsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shaedon Sharpe<\/a> combined for 78 points, giving the fans in Rip City a glimpse into what could be a bright future.<\/p>\n<p>The game featured the second most lead changes in NBA History (42), <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/13\/mikal-bridges-game-winner\/\" target=\"_self\">second only<\/a> to Nets\/Hawks in 2023. Funnily enough, that <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WorldWideWob\/status\/1900069288150802745\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one also ended on a game winner<\/a> by Mikal Bridges. Sometimes, the NBA is simply the gift that keeps on giving. The Knicks were able to overcome an egregious inbound violation by <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hartjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Hart<\/a> with 7.2 seconds left, despite giving up the go-ahead and-one bucket to Avdija. A tumultuous day for the Knicks organization culminated in an iconic game-winner by the same guy who started all the controversy. While poetic, it was also a must-needed win for a team that had been struggling lately with injuries, failed expectations, and the Thibodeau minutes debate.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>New York is Quietly Building an Identity <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The one silver lining of their captain&#8217;s injury was that it would give other players an opportunity to thrive and gain confidence before the playoffs. Without Brunson&#8217;s brilliance, every player in the rotation is forced to chip in and see an increased role. Last night, there were several heroes. Bridges, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anunoog01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OG Anunoby<\/a>, and Towns combined for 77 points on 53 shots, while Hart and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mcbrimi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miles McBride<\/a> made winning plays all over the floor despite poor offensive games. Lastly, New York flexed their defensive muscle. It will be harder to maintain this <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/11\/knicks-winning-formula-without-brunson\/\" target=\"_self\">team-based, defensive identity<\/a> when Brunson returns. However, if they can, his injury will have made all the difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 Soobum Im-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday&#8217;s news cycle for the New York Knicks was perhaps the weirdest of the entire 2020s. Since Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau joined the franchise in 2020, it&#8217;s been a tight-lipped organization with little drama. The players defend their coaches, and the coaches cover for the players. It&#8217;s always been this way. That&#8217;s why it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5412,"featured_media":128478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,1166,62,12],"tags":[1484,215],"class_list":["post-128448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-best-moments","category-nba","category-knicks","tag-mikal-bridges","tag-tom-thibodeau"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5412"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128448"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128479,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128448\/revisions\/128479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}