AS TOBIAS HARRIS spotted up from the left wing late in a Game 6 during the NBA playoffs' first round last month, the Detroit Pistons veteran saw New York Knicks wing Mikal Bridges sprinting at him, prompting Harris to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket instead.
But Harris, looking to cap the possession with a dunk, had company at the rim. New York's OG Anunoby had gotten there first, swatting the attempt away. Knicks guard Josh Hart recovered the ball, immediately throwing a hit-ahead pass to Bridges in transition.
Bridges, with two defenders to beat in the open floor -- Cade Cunningham in front and Malik Beasley closing from the left -- pounded two dribbles into the Little Caesars Arena hardwood before rising for a left-handed slam over Cunningham's outstretched arm.
"That's a man's jam!" play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle shouted as Bridges finished the play. For good measure, Bridges shouted, too, and punched the air in celebration before getting back on defense.
Mikal Bridges shows no remorse as he a slams down the hammer over Cade Cunningham after a big OG Anunoby block.
The full sequence -- Bridges' close-out, Anunoby's block and then Bridges again for his thunderous dunk -- showcased the Knicks' vision for the two-way pair: guard everyone and serve as floor-spacers who punish opponents from the corners when defenses crowded guard Jalen Brunson.
Adding the 28-year-old Bridges and the 27-year-old Anunoby came at a steep price, and with risks. In July, New York surrendered five first-round picks to land Bridges in a rare crosstown deal with the Brooklyn Nets. Less than two weeks earlier, the Knicks agreed to a five-year, $212 million free agent deal -- the richest in franchise history -- to bring back Anunoby after trading RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors last season. Some pundits criticized New York for the draft capital and salary cap space used to add two players who have never made an All-Star team.
Now, New York has its best chance yet at reaching the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years. Much of the Knicks' success during this clutch-time-fueled playoff run, including the chance to close out the defending champion Boston Celtics in Friday's Game 6 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), has featured the duo going toe-to-toe with the league's elite scorers. But after Bridges, Anunoby and the Knicks' defense were torched in Game 5 by the Celtics without Jayson Tatum, New York might need more magic from its two-way wings.
IT'S COMMON FOR Bridges, the league's modern-day ironman at 556 straight games to start his career, to be joined at his locker by massive bags of ice strapped to each knee.
And on Dec. 11, following the Knicks' loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, he certainly needed them. Bridges had just been screened 50 times, the most any NBA player faced in a game this season.
Before Bridges joined the Knicks, he was the 2022 runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year, and had almost always been deployed onto opposing teams' best wing scorers -- superstars such as Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Jayson Tatum.
However, in Bridges' first season with the Knicks, coach Tom Thibodeau had Bridges operate as the Knicks' point-of-attack stopper, an effort to save wear and tear on Brunson, who, on offense, has handled the ball more than any NBA player this season.
Through January, Bridges was navigating 25 screens per outing, more than any player in the league's 13-year database.
Making matters even more challenging, the Knicks also were adjusting to Karl-Anthony Towns as their backstop after he'd played with elite rim protector Rudy Gobert in Minnesota. As such, teams tested New York's offseason additions on defense.
For the most part, that strategy worked. Through November, New York's defense ranked 21st in the league. And even after meaningful improvement and a soft December schedule, the club was just 15th -- a considerable drop from the ninth-ranked unit a season ago.
The growing pains also hurt Bridges on the offensive end of the floor. During the 16-game, monthlong stretch between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1, he took just six free throws total after averaging nearly four per game last season with the Nets. It all made for a stark difference from the seamless fit Anunoby proved to be when coming over from Toronto in December 2023.
"It takes time," Brunson said earlier this week of Bridges' season. "It's like with rookies. People can be really good early, or people can develop and get better at some other point. You never know when that turning point is. ...
"I never really lost any faith because I've known him for so long."
There were signs that Bridges was developing a comfort level all along -- his 41-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs among them -- and he even foreshadowed his clutch, ball-hawking tendencies that sealed comeback wins in Games 1 and 2 against the Celtics. Bridges logged blocks at the buzzer to hold on to wins over the Nets and Hawks, and in a February game against the Bulls, he blocked center Nikola Vucevic to send that contest to overtime.
But Bridges and Anunoby also had an awakening on offense, triggered by Brunson's late-season ankle injury. The shift unlocked a new level of scoring from the duo that, if it comes through in the right moments, could bring New York back to the top sooner than anyone expected.
WHEN BRUNSON WENT down with a bad ankle sprain against the Los Angeles Lakers that would keep him out 15 games, it wasn't immediately clear who would shepherd the Knicks' offense.
Backup point guard Miles McBride was also out of the lineup because of an injury. Third-stringer Cameron Payne suffered one shortly after that, too. And while Towns is a fantastic playmaking center, he generally needs someone to initiate offense for him. That's also often true of Hart, who can give defenses fits but more as a secondary ball handler.
Bridges and Anunoby's roles, meanwhile, had clear top priorities in the Knicks' Brunson-led offense: No one in the NBA launched more corner 3s this season than Bridges and Anunoby, who attempted 219 and 216, respectively.
With a playmaking void in the club's offense, Bridges handled the ball more and ramped up his midrange game -- he ended the season shooting 50.7%, third in the NBA among volume shooters -- and upped his scoring from 17 points per night before Brunson's injury to 20.5 in the guard's absence. It seems to have bolstered Bridges' scoring confidence in the late stages of games, when Brunson is taking fourth-quarter breathers.
Meanwhile, Anunoby made an even bigger leap, going from 16.5 to nearly 23 points per game on improved efficiency.
"Our play style obviously highlights Jalen and KAT. I think at times we can feature OG and Mikal a little more," Hart said. "I knew OG always had the ability to knock down shots -- even last year, with his midrange, step-backs, stuff like that -- but I feel like he took it to another level when Jalen went down.
"The NBA is so situational, because he's capable of having huge scoring nights, and sometimes his number's not called. But when his number is called, he rises to the occasion."
🔐 3 steals
— NBA (@NBA) May 6, 2025
🚫 2 blocks
🙌 1 game-sealing play
Mikal Bridges was LOCKDOWN for the @nyknicks in the Game 1 overtime W! pic.twitter.com/28Y13hHcu0
The defensive-minded Thibodeau loves Bridges and Anunoby most for what they take away as defenders, particularly late in tight games throughout New York's wild clutch run this postseason.
The Jayson Tatum- and Jaylen Brown-led Celtics had shot just 13% (3-for-23) overall -- with more turnovers than baskets -- in 14 minutes of clutch time during this series. Boston, more reliant on 3-pointers than any team in league history, has connected on only one of its 11 attempts from deep in those scenarios, a massive credit to the Knicks' defensive wing duo.
"You're asking guys, particularly in five-out [situations], to get in to protect the paint and also get out to cover the 3-point line. And then when the ball gets shot, to go and rebound," Thibodeau said of Bridges and Anunoby. "Having the versatility to play the 2, 3 and 4, it allows you to do a lot more switching."
There's an argument to be made that the forwards are the Knicks' biggest bellwether in the series with Boston. When they each play well -- like in the second half of the close-out Game 6 in Detroit, or the Game 4 victory against Boston, in which they combined for 19 points on 9-for-10 shooting in the pivotal fourth quarter -- it's incredibly tough to overcome.
On nights such as Game 5, when the Knicks' defense allowed 22 3-pointers and Anunoby and Bridges themselves combined for 5-for-26 shooting -- it puts an unsustainable burden on Brunson and Towns to score. If New York can muster enough out of their wings to knock out Boston -- and in doing so, become the favorite to win the East -- all the picks and salary for Bridges and Anunoby will have been worth it for the Knicks, whom almost no one expected to get this far after faltering against their rival during the regular season.