The New York Knicks paid a king's ransom to add Mikal Bridges in the offseason, and the defensive play he made against the Chicago Bulls at the end of regulation of their Thursday night tilt shows just why they coveted him.
The Knicks and Bulls went back and forth for 48 minutes at Madison Square Garden, with New York tying the game at 104 on a Jalen Brunson bucket with 29 seconds remaining. Chicago opted to feed Nikola Vucevic on the ensuing possession, and Lonzo Ball found him with a perfect pass off the inbounds, in which he had what seemed like a mismatch on Bridges deep in the paint.
Vucevic, who has around four inches and 50 pounds on Bridges, went for a game-winning jumphook from about a foot away from the rim, but was miraculously rejected.
This has to be one of the most impressive plays of the NBA season.
HUGE MIKAL BRIDGES BLOCK TO FORCE OT 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Q3JqY4pL0i
— NBA (@NBA) February 21, 2025
Bridges has been up-and-down offensively for New York, but he's perhaps the NBA's most reliable iron man and can defend multiple positions—even, at times, center as he proved in a key moment on Thursday night.
He finished with 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks, including the biggest play of the game, as the Knicks held on for a 113–111 win in overtime.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mikal Bridges Pulls Off Highlight-Reel Block to Send Knicks-Bulls to Overtime.
