Nets’ Mikal Bridges takes accountability following rough road trip: ‘Just have to let it go’
Mikal Bridges was far from his best during the Nets’ recent 1-4 trip out West. While speaking to reporters following Brooklyn’s 125-108 loss to the Utah Jazz, the 27-year-old was the first to admit it.
“Just did everything bad,” Bridges said. “Missing shots, free throws, not defending, not rebounding. Just a bad one. Letting my teammates down, coaches down, playing 5-on-4 basically while I’m out there. I just have to be better. I won’t let that happen again.”
The forward maintains solid averages of 21.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists across his first 26 appearances this season while shooting 47% from the field and 39.1% from 3-point range. However, over his last five games entering Wednesday’s inter-borough matchup with the Knicks, he is averaging just 16.6 points while shooting 35.6% from the field.
Bridges’ efficiency from deep over that five-game stretch (43.8%) was one of the only positives. His rebounding (3.0) and assists (3.0) were also down and he was a cumulative minus-9.8 in 35.4 minutes a night.
Bridges’ biggest dud of the road trip came on Monday where he shot just 4-of-16 from the field, his worst game of the season in terms of offensive efficiency. While he was a little better in the Nets’ game against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, he missed a critical layup that would have tied the game with 24.1 seconds left. Brooklyn lost 124-120.
“Coach drew the play up for me to iso at the top and I just missed the layup,” Bridges said.
Of course, no player is immune to cold spells. Not to mention, given the Nets’ rash of injuries lately, Bridges has been one of the healthy bodies head coach Jacque Vaughn has stretched thin because of necessity.
But Vaughn will not make excuses for any of his players. And Bridges will not make excused for himself.
“I do feel that they gave me everything they had this trip,” Vaughn told reporters on Monday. “And hopefully we get a chance to go home and get some healthy bodies, that will be helpful for us. We’ve been wearing some guys pretty thin this early in the year, unfortunately… the toll added up.”
The good thing is, Bridges has a prime opportunity to get back on track over the Nets’ next stretch of games. Brooklyn will play five of its next six at home, starting on Wednesday against the Knicks. It will also face Denver, Detroit twice and Milwaukee over the next eight days.
Bridges has also been no stranger to bounce-back efforts this season following rough stretches. After scoring 10 and 12 points, respectively, against the Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics on Nov. 8 and Nov. 10, he then averaged 26.8 points per game over his next five appearances.
That included a season-high 45-point explosion in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Nov. 22.
“Just have to learn from it and get ready for the next games,” Bridges said. “Just have to let [it] go and learn from it. The more you sulk on it the worse it’s going to get, so you just have to let it go, learn from it and get ready for the next one.”
