The New York Knicks would not have made it to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals without the key defensive stops from Mikal Bridges in the first two games of their second-round matchup against the Boston Celtics.
Bridges completed the Knicks’ 20-point comebacks in Games 1 and 2 by locking up Celtics stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
In Game 1, Bridges stole the ball from Brown in the closing seconds, which preserved a Knicks’ 108-105 come-from-behind win.
In Game 2, Bridges did it again, teaming up with OG Anunoby to foil Tatum’s attempted game-winning shot.
Those twin defensive plays that propelled the Knicks to their best season in a quarter-century landed as No. 2 and No. 1 in the NBA’s Top 50 Defensive Plays of the Season.
TOP 50 DEFENSIVE PLAYS OF 2024-25 🔒
10. Draymond Green
9. Russell Westbrook
8. Jaden McDaniels
7. Victor Wembanyama
6. Myles Turner
5. Mike Conley
4. Dyson Daniels
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo
2. Mikal Bridges
1. Mikal Bridges https://t.co/lrX8rNoUX1 pic.twitter.com/7ZvGgx1Hhu— NBA (@NBA) August 8, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Knicks Star’s Public Spat With Tom Thibodeau
They were also the high points of Bridges’ roller-coaster season with the Knicks, marred by his strong opinions about Tom Thibodeau’s rotation, which factored in the latter’s firing.
“Sometimes it’s not fun on the body,” Bridges told reporters in March. “But you want that as a coach, and also talked to him a little bit, knowing that we’ve got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in and we don’t need to play 48 [minutes], 47.
“We’ve got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes. Which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there.”
Thibodeau denied they had a conversation, which showed cracks in the Knicks locker room that ultimately ended his tenure in New York.
Bridges Takes Less Money But Gets More Pressure
Bridges agreed to a four-year, $150 million extension on July 31, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, with a player option for the 2029-30 season and a trade kicker.
It was $6 million less than the maximum Bridges could have signed.
“Bridges takes a slight discount from his max extension number ($156M) in order to help the Knicks have flexibility to continue building the roster and add pieces to the East championship contender,” Charania wrote on X.
Bridges also had the option to delay signing an extension next summer when he could add another year and more money, according to SNY’s Ian Begley. But Bridges followed Jalen Brunson’s lead.
Brunson, the Knicks captain and Bridges’ college teammate at Villanova, also signed a four-year, $156.5 million extension last year. Had he waited until this summer, Brunson could have signed for a five-year, $269.1 million deal, essentially giving the Knicks a $113 million discount and the wiggle room to extend Bridges.
“He wants to be here and wants to win here,” a league source told SNY’s Begley.
The Knicks will also have to decide on the long-term future of center Mitchell Robinson, whose four-year, $60 million contract expires after next season.
The flexibility the Knicks gained from Bridges’ discounted deal will help them in their bid to retain Robinson, who is their best rim protector and one of the league’s most prolific offensive rebounders.
But while the Knicks gained flexibility, Bridges will have more pressure to perform to a much higher expectation that comes with the big contract, especially now that Thibodeau is gone.
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