Knicks Rumors: Players Defending Mikal Bridges' Early Struggles 'Helped' Chemistry

After a lull to start the season, the New York Knicks have hit their stride with nine consecutive wins to move within one game of the Boston Celtics for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

On the latest episode of the Hoop Collective Podcast (starts at 36:15 mark), ESPN's Brian Windhorst noted one of the big things that "helped" the Knicks find their chemistry quickly was players on the roster defending Mikal Bridges amid his early struggles:

"The players coming to [Mikal] Bridges' defense was galvanizing within the locker room. Now, it's not surprising that Josh Hart—who's one of Mikal Bridges' best friends—would come to his defense. But it wasn't just Hart. A number of players did. Because they were struggling. Bridges was struggling. He was kind of the face of their early struggles because of the trade, because of the five first-round picks. That has helped their chemistry, from what I am told."

Josh Hart was the most vociferous Bridges champion when he was going through some growing pains to begin this season.

There was a 17-game stretch from Oct. 28 through Nov. 29 when Bridges shot 29.8 percent from three-point range. This added credence to concerns from the preseason that his shooting form looked out of sorts.

Another problem during that month-long stretch for Bridges was defense. He was regarded as one of the best three-and-D wings in the NBA, but the Knicks were awful defensively when he was on the court compared to when he was off.

In 15 games since Dec. 1, Bridges is averaging 21.3 points per game on 43.1 percent three-point shooting. He had his best game of the season on Christmas Day with 41 points on 17-of-25 shooting in the Knicks' 117-114 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Even though patience is a virtue, it's not one many in the sports world possess because things happen so fast. There was always going to be an adjustment period for the Knicks coming into this season because they made two big offseason trades to acquire Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Bridges obviously had a preexisting relationship with Hart and Jalen Brunson from their time together at Villanova, but that trio last played together in 2017. They have all evolved as players since then.

Now, more than two months since the start of the regular season, the 'Nova Knicks have figured things out. They have won nine consecutive games and 19 of their last 23 after a 5-6 start.