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Defenses are going to have to start accounting for Mikal Bridges
During the Phoenix Suns’ 115-105 throttling of the Los Angeles Lakers that was nowhere near as close as the final score indicated, it was easy to get caught up in the various storylines.
The Suns had bounced back from an ugly, season-opening loss with a decisive road win over the Lakers in which they led by as many as 30 points; Chris Paul became the first player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points and 10,000 assists; and Devin Booker passed Giannis Antetokounmpo for the sixth-most points in NBA history before a player’s 25th birthday, all while trolling the living hell out of Russell Westbrook:
But much like playing against the Suns themselves, all that attention being afforded to CP3, Book and even Deandre Ayton meant Mikal Bridges went flying under the radar.
“A little bit,” he with a smirk said after the game. “I like it.”
Finishing with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, Bridges quietly had himself a monster game in Phoenix’s first win of the season Friday night. He also shot 8-for-11 from the field, 2-for-4 from downtown and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line.
“Just great energy,” head coach Monty Williams said of his performance. “He had three steals tonight, a blocked shot, and then you think about that from a defensive perspective, and then he gives us 21 points. He’s just efficient, 8-for-11 from the field. The level of energy that he plays with and his ability to guard multiple positions, and then having to guard LeBron, takes a lot of energy and focus, so he was huge for us tonight.”
Bridges was indeed impressive on both ends, limiting LeBron James to 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting. He also helped force the King into 5 turnovers, and while James shot an impressive 5-for-9 from 3-point range, his 3-for-9 shooting inside the arc had everything to do with Bridges’ pestering presence.
At Suns Media Day, the 25-year-old wing said he committed to his weightlifting regimen in the offseason. Even though he lamented not having the body type that can put on noticeable muscle mass, Bridges said he felt stronger. That showed Friday night when James repeatedly tried to back him down.
He.
Would.
Not.
Be moved.
Sure, a lot of that is Bridges putting those Gumby arms of his to good use, but even being in position to get his hands on those balls without being moved from his spot marks growth from last year. James is an incredibly strong dude. It still takes an impressive amount of core strength to stay in his airspace, even with all that length helping to close the gap and contest those shots.
And, of course, if you throw the ball into his vicinity or try to dribble around that all-encompassing wingspan, you’d better be prepared to get wrapped up by those Go-Go-Gadget arms:
That cruel pickpocket on Malik Monk led to an open 3-pointer for Bridges to extend Phoenix’s lead to nine. His post stand on LeBron’s fadeaway gave him an easy dunk, his contest at the rim on James got him an assist on a Cam Johnson 3, and his steal on Anthony Davis’ errant pass led to the Devin Booker 3 that essentially ended LA’s hopes of a last-minute comeback.
It wasn’t just the defense end where he shined though. After Bridges worked on tightening up his ball-handling over the summer, Williams said in training camp that he wanted to put the young wing in environments where he could be the Suns’ third option. The Suns haven’t stopped pushing him to become that kind of weapon.
“We’re on his ass every day,” Devin Booker said. “It comes from me and [Chris Paul] often because it helps our whole entire team when he’s playing aggressive like that. He takes a lot of pressure off a little bit of everybody. I think people figured out he can shoot the ball and they’re starting to figure out he can score a little bit, but he can make plays also. That combination and having all three of us out there being that type of threat I think it opens up a lot of opportunities for our team.”
With defenses paying so much attention to deadly scorers and crafty playmakers like Paul and Booker, Bridges’ effectiveness as a cutter makes him the ideal complementary fit. He repeatedly attacked a Lakers defense that found itself overwhelmed trying to keep tabs on Phoenix’s sets. When LA focused its bandwidth on containing primary options, Bridges found the gap over and over again:
Some of that is just bad defense, like this laughably bad effort from a sleeping LeBron James, which is just inexcusable against a cutter of this caliber.
Bridges ranked in the 100th percentile on points per possession on cuts last season, Bron! What are you doing?
Apparently LeBron and the Lakers didn’t learn their lesson in last year’s playoffs, but other teams will be catching on soon: The days of trying to force Mikal Bridges to beat you are rapidly coming to an end.
To this point, Bridges hasn’t felt a shift in how teams defend him yet.
“Not too crazy, not too wild,” he said. “I still be so locked in on defense and trying to make the right play on that end, I don’t feel anything really changed. College I did, my last year, I felt being guarded a little different. That was a first for me. Right now, nah. You got guys like Book, CP, DA, Jae [Crowder] on that court. I still get open looks and those guys find you and they do so much out there. It just makes the game easy for me.”
However, Bridges probably isn’t giving himself enough credit. He grew leaps and bounds as a midrange scorer who could attack poor closeouts and pull up off the dribble, improving from 31 percent shooting on midrange shots in 2019-20 to 51 percent last season.
So if he starts doing shit like this consistently, watch out.
Before the Denver Nuggets game on Wednesday, during which Bridges would eventually finish as Phoenix’s leading scorer with 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting, Monty Williams was asked what he thought Mikal’s ceiling looked like.
Williams essentially answered that he had no idea.
“It’s hard to say, he’s still so young,” Williams said. “If he didn’t work as hard as he does, I’d give you an answer, but because he works at it and he’s open to expanding his game, he could someday be a guy that we can give the ball to and allow for him to make plays. I think I have to put them in those environments. I don’t know what his ceiling is. I know he’s a good player. He’s consistent in every area for us. Work ethic is second to none, and I think that’s what has allowed for him to get where he’s gotten, but he’s not satisfied. That’s another reason why I don’t wanna put a cap on his ceiling.”
It’s only been two games, but Mikal Bridges is already making his new contract extension look like a wise investment. And if Suns opponents don’t wake up soon, he’s going to continue to have a field day against opposing defenses that are somehow spending too much time worrying about All-Stars like Chris Paul and Devin Booker.
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