Every season, the last days of the NBA give less. With the playoff positions mostly defined, the teams are already thinking about other things: in the next season those who are eliminated; in the play-in crossings those who must play the repechage; and in a brief rest before facing the series for the title those who have earned it.
So there is no tension in the games nor many stars on the court. With this panorama, we usually see teams made up of unknown and surreal situations like the one starring Mikal Bridges in the game between the Knicks and the Hornets. The forward is the personification of the NBA’s current obsession with reaching or maintaining records.
Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, in the game against the Hornets.
Bridges currently has the longest streak of consecutive games in the League. Until last night he had not missed a single one in his entire NBA career.. In fact, he has not missed a meeting since his time in high school. At Villanova University he was never absent either. Being one of the Knicks’ leaders and with nothing at stake, Coach Mike Brown wanted to give him a rest, but that would have broken his streak.. There was a plan and it had already been used on other occasions.
So Bridges started against the Hornets and at 23 seconds he committed a foul to stop the game. He went to the benchsat alongside Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, other booked stars, and he didn’t play again. His tally of consecutive games in the NBA is still alive: he is now at 638 in his career between the Suns, the Nets and the Knicks. It mattered little that his team lost 96-110. The important thing about the night had been seen in the first minute.