Mikal Bridges’ streak officially made it through another season.
The Knicks guard made sure of it Sunday after logging just 23 seconds after tipoff against the Hornets, fouling purposefully on the first defensive possession to compel the sub.
Mike Brown said it was his decision to play Bridges in the meaningless regular-season finale.
“The streak that he has going is amazing and I definitely don’t want to be the one to screw that up,” the coach said.
Bridges now sits eighth on the all-time list with 638 straight games played, pushing past three players this season — most notably John Stockton, BJ Armstrong and Andre Miller. It’s especially impressive in the era of load management. No player above Bridges in consecutive games played began their streak after the 1980s.
“It’s crazy because load management is a real thing,” Brown said. “And that’s something that’s thought of by everybody. Not just the medical performance group — by coaches, by individual players, by agents, by family members — people push to take time off for whatever reason. So for a guy like that to be at the number that he’s at in consecutive games played speaks volumes.”
Bridges, 29, hasn’t missed a game since high school. His attendance was perfect at Villanova and he even played 83 games in the 2022-23 NBA campaign because he was traded midseason.
“For the people that’s paying attention, I just want to try and play everyday,” Bridges said earlier this month after moving up to eighth on the all-time list. “It’s who I am. It’s who I’ve always been. I don’t really look at [the all-time list] but I guess it’d be cool one day. Hopefully, I have kids one day and maybe brag about that.”
Still, catching No. 1 is impossible. Bridges would need nearly seven more straight seasons to eclipse A.C. Green, whose ridiculous 1,192 consecutive games spanned from 1986 to 2001.
However, Bridges would crack the top four if he didn’t miss another game in the next 1 ½ seasons. He made it through this one without an appearance on the injury report, although he’s been receiving treatment on his right shooting hand for at least the last few weeks. Bridges also has been playing a safer version of basketball since joining the Knicks, with his foul shot attempts dropping to an average of just 1.3 the last two seasons combined. It’s harder to get hurt with less contact.
Statistically, Bridges struggled overall this season while averaging just 14.2 points, his fewest since 2021-22.
But the streak resides in a separate class for this era. Harrison Barnes was the only active player within 300 games of Bridges’ streak before the Spurs forward collected a DNP in March.
Although Brown claimed the decision to briefly play Sunday against the Hornets, it’s clear Bridges is invested in the streak. He was the only active starter in a game that meant nothing to the Knicks, who were locked into the third seed before tipoff. It was also the third time in the last four years that Bridges played less than 15 seconds in the finale.
Last season, he was subbed out after six seconds. Three years ago, with the Nets, it was four seconds.
So there are loopholes involved, but it’s still impressive.
“I’m sure he’s probably cool with [playing a few seconds to keep the streak alive] but at the end of the day, that’s definitely led by me,” Brown said. “It’s a streak that he has going on, and I want it to continue, but in the same breath, I also don’t want him to get hurt or anything like that, so we’re gonna try to be as smart about it as best we can.”
