LOS ANGELES — Like just a few of his teammates, Mikal Bridges was saddled with foul trouble Sunday.
And he by no means recovered.
The guard went scoreless for the primary time this season in an ugly 110-97 loss to the Lakers, lacking all six of his makes an attempt — together with 4 from behind the arc.
It was the third time Bridges failed to attain since becoming a member of the Knicks earlier than final season, though one occurred as he logged just some seconds in a meaningless finale to keep up his consecutive video games performed streak.
On Sunday, Bridges began by fouling Los Angeles’ Austin Reaves on a 3-point try simply 15 seconds after tipoff. It set the tone. Bridges picked up his fourth foul about 1 ½ minutes into the second half and was benched for the rest of the third quarter.
“Just not being out there. I think that’s the biggest thing. Being in foul trouble takes me away from being out there to try to help my team win,” Bridges mentioned. “I’ve got to be better, starting off the game fouling a shooter from 3.”
Knicks coach Mike Brown blasted his staff for lazy defending, saying it was the motive force of the foul issues. The Lakers took 30 free throws in comparison with New York’s 21.
“We got beat off the dribble often,” Brown mentioned. “We got beat to the middle. And being lazy about it we reached at the last second and sent them to the free-throw line.”
Luka Doncic, who completed with 35 factors, tried a game-high 10 free throws for the Lakers. Reaves took seven.
“When we guarded the ball, we tried to make up for it with a crazy reach,” Brown mentioned. “Thirty free-throw attempts is crazy.”
Josh Hart was additionally foul-happy with 4 personals in simply 22 minutes. He was benched for your entire fourth quarter, which was extra in regards to the coach rolling with Jordan Clarkson.
“Yeah, it’s tough. Especially some of the fouls that they called they cause you — your physicality is not there and it’s tough, you’re not able to play the way you want to play,” Hart mentioned. “You get taken out and you don’t have the flow of the game. Obviously that’s a frustrating thing. You’ve got to figure out and not put them on the free-throw line. It’s tough.”
But no person had a more durable afternoon than Bridges, who was wanting ahead to redemption Monday in opposition to the Clippers.
“Just bouncing back. We have an opportunity to show that tomorrow off a back-to-back,” Bridges mentioned. “Not playing as we wanted to, we get another chance to bounce back. It’s a game of life. You know what I’m saying? You’re hit and you’ve just got to get back up. So what are you going to do? We’ve got another opportunity tomorrow.”
