Silent most of the game, Mikal Bridges required just one play to make himself heard.
With 2 seconds left in a tie game, the Bulls ran a crisp inbounds play from the sideline in which Lonzo Ball lobbed into Nikola Vucevic, who caught the ball with his back to the basket and at point-blank range.
A few feet from defeat, the Knicks’ only chance involved a 6-foot-6 Mikal Bridges finding a way against a 7-footer.
“Not trying to gamble when they threw it in and give up an easy layup,” Bridges would say later. “Just trying to make it tough, trying to time it up.”
He suspected Vucevic would put the ball in his right hand. He knew, with just two ticks remaining, exactly when the sH๏τ would need to go up.
The ball barely left Vucevic’s hand.
Bridges, physically overmatched, remained in between Vucevic and the basket, leapt quickly and swatted the ball and the Bulls’ chances away to send the game into an overtime that the Knicks survived, 113-111, on Thursday at the Garden.
Mikal Bridges of the New York Knicks blocks the sH๏τ of Nikola Vucevic of the Chicago Bulls during their game at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 2025.
“At first I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Jalen Brunson said as he saw what sure looked like a mismatch under the basket. “And then he makes the play. I’m like, ‘Oh, good.’
“I’m just very thankful for his long-ᴀss arms.”
Those long arms are part of the reason the Knicks deemed Bridges worthy of five first-round picks, his defensive versatility arguably a bigger factor than his offensive game.
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