Make New York Post a Preferred Source INDIANAPOLIS — Mikal Bridges repeated it eight times in a three-minute interview Friday: “Be better.”
The floundering shooting guard took ownership of his struggles ahead of Friday’s game against the Pacers, saying he’s the lone problem and solution.
“I just look in the mirror, I just got to be better,” Bridges said. “Nobody else to blame but me and I just got to go out there and, whatever it is, just be better and go harder.”
Bridges was light on specifics but his shooting numbers were ugly. Before Friday, he was at 32.9 percent from the field overall and 26.5 percent on 3s — despite many of his looks being wide open.
Mike Brown responded by benching Bridges for long stretches, preferring to close games with reserve Landry Shamet.
“When times are tough, you just gotta own up to it and just be better,” Bridges said.
After Bridges played just 17 minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the Cavaliers — which represented the fourth time in 11 games that he’s logged 17 or fewer — coach Mike Brown said it’d be “hard to find minutes” for Bridges and “even for times for Josh Hart.”
New York Knicks guard Mikal Bridges drives past Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, at Madison Square Garden in New York. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Brown reasoned that reserves Shamet and Deuce McBride are playing well.
But the Knicks also have $150 million tied up in Bridges, who said he’s not relying on flipping a switch to excellence in the playoffs like the last two seasons.
“I try to be my best throughout the whole year. Obviously, struggles come, which obviously nobody wants, but like I said, in these moments, gotta look in the mirror and you’re tested the most and just see what you’re made of,” Bridges said. “So, just gotta be better.”
Bridges had a different tune last season during a slump, when he blamed a lack of opportunity for his performance decline.
“Sometimes you try to get open and sometimes it doesn’t find me. Just try to find ways to stay aggressive,” Bridges said in March, a little more than a month before he started a dominant playoff run. “That’s it.”
“I got to do everything better,” he said.
Brown said he hasn’t thought about removing Bridges from the starting lineup because he’s a proven vet and it’d be a “panic decision” so early in the season. But there is a minutes crunch at the wing with Bridges, Hart, Shamet and McBride.
What’s happening on and off the Garden court Sign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.
“There are several different ways you can look at it,” said Hart, who played 26 minutes in Wednesday’s loss to the Cavs. “You can look at it, if [Shamet and McBride] have it going, cool. Good. You could look at it like, ‘Okay, maybe something else has to change [like a trade].’
“But there’s going to good days with that, bad days. But whatever allows the Knicks the best opportunity and chance to win, that’s the most important.”
