Amid one of his disappearing acts, Mikal Bridges was again benched in the fourth quarter.
The guard sat the final 9 ½ minutes of Thursday’s 126-11 Knicks defeat to the Pistons at the Garden, with Landry Shamet getting the playing time and trust from coach Mike Brown.
“Landry had hit a couple shots. We needed to score,” Brown said. “They’re both really good defenders. And so I just stayed with Landry. But it wasn’t anything where, ‘Oh, I’m going to sit Mikal because he’s not doing this, or he’s not doing that.’ We were looking to score points and Landry was the only one to make a shot from behind the arc.”
Shamet scored 15 points in 28 minutes Thursday.
Bridges, who was acquired for five first-round picks and recently signed a $150 million extension, scored just eight points in 25 minutes.
Bridges was also 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.
He was also benched in favor of Shamet down the stretch of victories this month over the Sixers and Lakers.
There has been more tanking discourse than ever across the NBA.
Commissioner Adam Silver said during the All-Star break that tanking has been “worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory” and that he is considering “every possible remedy” to combat it.
Brown weighed in on potential solutions before the team’s game against the Pistons on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
“Definitely trying to make somebody fight for it at the end of the season,” the Knicks coach said. “Whether you have a small tournament before the playoffs start or something like that to where it’s not just guaranteed that the team with the worst record gets the best odds. That may change it a little bit.”
Already, the Jazz and Pacers have been fined $500K and $100K, respectively, for sitting healthy players in recent games.
Brown’s Knicks certainly aren’t in the tanking conversation, and his teams throughout his tenure have never really fit that description.
But he recognizes it has gotten out of hand.
“Adam’s a smart guy and he’s figured out a lot of really good things for this league,” Brown said, “so I have a ton of faith in him that he will figure it out.”
OG Anunoby, with one less toenail, made his Knicks return Thursday — scoring eight points in 32 minutes.
He missed the Knicks’ past four games before the All-Star break with right toenail avulsion.
He said that he had to have his full toenail removed and that there was “a lot of pain” and that “it’s an open wound, like it’s just flesh and raw, bloody.”
Anunoby is normally tasked with guarding Cade Cunningham, whom the Knicks faced Thursday.
Without Anunoby, the Knicks were routed by the Pistons 118-80 in the first of those last four games before the break.
Agent Rich Kleiman took a dig at Knicks owner James Dolan on social media.
Madison Square Garden Sports announced Wednesday that it is considering splitting the Knicks and Rangers into two, separately traded public entities.
Boardroom, which Kleiman co-founded with Kevin Durant, posted on Instagram a message that read: “You may soon be able to own a piece of the Knicks and Rangers.”
Kleiman responded to that post: “No thanks unless the owner was gone.”
Kleiman represents Durant, who notably spurned the Knicks for the Nets in free agency in 2019.