Mike Brown addresses another Mikal Bridges benching

It happened again for New York Knicks guard Mikal Bridges. 

The former Villanova Wildcats star was benched for the entire fourth quarter of Monday’s game between the Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets at Madison Square Garden in New York City, N.Y., as head coach Mike Brown opted to use other guards to finish the game.

The Knicks gave Landry Shamet and Jordan Clarkson most of the minutes over Bridges in the second half as New York searched for answers. The move worked, as New York turned a four-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter into a 16-point lead after a 25-5 run to start the final period.

Brown addressed Bridges’ situation following the Knicks’ 103-90 win over their city rival.

“He’s just got to keep playing. Everybody goes through those ups and downs throughout the season,” Brown said after the game, via Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. 

Bridges played the first three minutes of the third quarter before getting benched for good, but Brown still found a way to praise his player.

“And obviously, it’s the beginning of the season, so he has to find his way. With everybody, when you’re in a funk, you got to find one or two things to hold your hat on, and Mikal is one of the best runners in the game, in both directions, offensively and defensively, Brown continued. “

So he has to hold his hat on that as well as his cutting and trying to do that and other little things: rebounding, driving and touching the paint and spraying it. And his shot will come eventually.” 

Bridges only had six points on 1/7 shooting from the field and 4/4 from the foul line in 16 minutes versus Brooklyn, as he continued to struggle with this shot. He was also benched in last week’s win over the Chicago Bulls, in which he saw action for only 13 minutes and scored three points on 1/4 shooting.

Bridges is averaging just 6.1 points per game on a horrid 30.8% shooting percentage this season.