PORTLAND, Ore. — This was too imperfect to be a Hollywood screenplay. Only life — with all of its twists and turns, unintentional humor and swirling emotions — could create what happened Wednesday night.
Twelve hours after New York Knicks’ Mikal Bridges said publicly that he talked privately to his coach, Tom Thibodeau, about the starters playing too much and the bench not enough, the NBA’s league-leader in minutes capped a 41-minute, overtime performance with a buzzer-beating, game-winning 3. Five hours after Thibodeau publicly stated that he and Bridges never had a private discussion about the starters playing too many minutes and the bench too few, the coach put the ball in the hands of Bridges over and over down the stretch to seal the win.
Wednesday was awkward for everyone, from morning to late evening. There was palpitating tension in the hours leading up to the game between the Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers because of conflicting public comments from Thibodeau and Bridges about a hot-button narrative that has followed the former for several years. There was uncertainty about how the player-and-coach dynamic would look when it was time for both to do their jobs.
In the end, though, Bridges put together one of his better performances of the season — scoring 33 points on 13-of-21 shooting, the last shot not only clinching the 114-113 win, but providing an exhale felt throughout the entire Knicks organization — and Thibodeau didn’t hesitate to lean on Bridges in the game’s most tense moments, with star guard and usual savior Jalen Brunson sidelined.
If there is real friction between the two, it was set aside for 48-plus minutes and replaced with professionalism.
“He was huge, huge,” Thibodeau said.
MIKAL BRIDGES, ARE YOU SERIOUS!!?
33 POINTS AND THE GAME-WINNING TREY 😤 pic.twitter.com/7iubWATP1Q
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) March 13, 2025
Thibodeau’s players — specifically the ones whom he trusts enough to play big minutes — don’t usually speak out against their workload. Josh Hart, who is right behind Bridges in total minutes played this season, has stated ad nauseam that he’d rather play more than less. Brunson has always publicly downplayed the narrative that Thibodeau leans on his starters too much. Karl-Anthony Towns, who played under Thibodeau in Minnesota, has said before that he understands and accepts what comes with a Thibodeau-led team, and he’s always championed the coach in front of the media for, what he feels, is his coach doing whatever he believes is necessary to win games.
Bridges’ words weren’t malicious. They were just outside the norm of what Thibodeau’s players usually say.
“You know, I’m on that side because I’m a starter and I’ll play a lot of minutes,” Bridges said Wednesday morning when asked if the national-media narrative that Thibodeau plays his starters too many minutes is fair. “Sometimes not fun on the body. But you want that as a coach, but also talk to him a little bit, knowing that we’ve got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in and we don’t need to play 48, 47. We’ve got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away the minutes, which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps us keeping fresh bodies out there.”
When asked if he received good feedback from Thibodeau when bringing the topic up, Bridges said this:
“Yeah, no, he’s not really, he’s not arguing about it. Sometimes I think he just gets in his ways, and he gets locked in and he just wants to keep the guy out there. Sometimes you have to tell him like, Landry (Shamet) for example or somebody, keep them out there, they’re playing well.”
Thibodeau rarely ever says anything negative about a player to the public. He keeps family business in house. Thibodeau’s players, both past and present, appreciate that. So the fact that Thibodeau even addressed Bridges’ comments from earlier that day during his pregame availability and said that his player lied suggests that Bridges’ words in front of recorders bothered him.
“For one, we never had a conversation about it,” Thibodeau said. “The facts are the facts. When you look at our team, and the way it works, Jalen (Brunson) plays 35 minutes, and I think he’s 20th or 21st in average minutes played. (Karl-Anthony Towns), who is a primary scorer, plays less than Jalen. He’s like 25th in the league in average minutes.”
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau defended the way he doles out minutes. (Alika Jenner / Getty Images)
Thibodeau left his frustrations at the podium and didn’t reprimand Bridges on the court. A petty coach may have sat the player for the game, which in Bridges’ case would have snapped a streak of 538 consecutive games played. A petty coach may have cut a player’s minutes significantly. Bridges would have played 36 minutes if not for overtime, which is a hair shy of his season average. A petty coach may not have featured a player as heavily. Bridges’ 21 shot attempts were the second most for him this year.
With how Bridges was playing, the Knicks needed every second of his 41 minutes on the floor — in a game that featured 42 (!) lead changes.
“At the end of the day, we’re all grown men,” Hart said. “We go out there and play the game as hard as we can, execute as hard as we can, and same thing with Thibs.”
Bridges, who had a conversation with Thibodeau at some point before the opening tip, could have had his mind wandering as he tried to figure out how his words could impact how much he’d play — or if he would at all. To his credit, Bridges was as sharp offensively as he’s been this season. Shot-making aside, he had impressive passes late in the game, some with the Blazers blitzing him in the pick-and-roll.
Like his coach, Bridges’ mind was where it needed to be.
“Just happy to win,” Bridges said after.
Bridges has led the NBA in total minutes before — twice, actually. He did it 2021-22 with the Phoenix Suns and then again the next season with both Phoenix and Brooklyn. Naturally, the total minutes played can run up when you’re a starter and never miss games. As far as minutes per game, Bridges’ 37.9 is on par with other wings in basketball. Kevin Durant, who is 36 years old, averages 37.1 minutes per game. Devin Booker averages 37.5. Jayson Tatum averages 36.6.
The Knicks acquired Bridges to match up against the league’s elite ballhandlers and wings. The players Bridges guards on a nightly basis also tend to play high minutes. He’s a good two-way player who doesn’t miss games and has shown the ability to withstand a heavy workload. Those traits were part of New York’s logic behind trading five first-round picks for his services.
“The way it works, if Jayson Tatum is in the game or Jaylen Brown is in the game, OG (Anunoby) will be in the game and Mikal will be in the game,” Thibodeau said before Wednesday’s game. “When those guys go out, (our) guys go out. When they come back, (our guys) come back. We try to keep them matched up. If you look at the league, all those guys are playing 36, 37 minutes — whether it’s Durant, Tatum, (Jaylen) Brown. The wings are going to play more. They are primary wings defenders. That’s the way it works. And then sometimes you’re caught in matchups. The Lakers are big wings, so sometimes you deal with that.”
New York’s bench depth took a hit in the offseason trades for Towns and Bridges. Those deals — which basically stripped the Knicks of their meaningful draft capital and financially made it difficult to add to the roster in a significant way beyond the starting lineup — coupled with the injury to Mitchell Robinson, made it nearly impossible for New York to add to its bench at any point this year.
Last season, with a deeper bench, only Brunson and Julius Randle (who ranked 15th and 16th) were the only Knicks players in the top 40 of minutes played per game. This season, New York’s three starting wings — Bridges, Hart and Anunoby — are in the top 10.
Could Thibodeau pull the plug earlier when games feel decided in the final minutes? Sure. However, New York hasn’t been in too many blowout situations as of late. Five of the Knicks’ last 12 games have gone to overtime. Less than a handful of games since Feb. 1 have been decided by double-digit points.
Even with all of that, Thibodeau has decreased Bridges’ minutes since Jan. 1. His 36.6 minutes per game since then ranks 13th in the NBA. Bridges averaged 39.1 minutes from the start of the season to Dec. 31 — and during that time New York had injuries to second-unit guards Miles McBride and Shamet.
Thibodeau and Bridges aren’t here to be friends. They’re both in New York to win basketball games, and they’ve done that more than any Knicks team in recent history. Thibodeau has relied on Bridges because the wing is one of the team’s best defenders, and he has a bench that is thin on sizable wings. Bridges has competed all season, fighting through more screens than anyone in the NBA this year. If all the minutes from years and years of never missing a game are catching up to him, he’s trying not to show it.
Where this goes, who knows. It appears both men will have no problems doing their job, though. Thibodeau’s fist was one of the first ones raised when Bridges’ shot ripped through the net.
Winning. That’s all that matters at the end of the day.
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(Top photo: Soobum Im / Imagn Images)
