Guarding Paul George Taught Mikal Bridges How to Score
Paying attention on defence can help you improve offensively.
After the Phoenix Suns traded Mikal Bridges to the Brooklyn Nets last season, the defensive wing’s scoring jumped significantly.
The main reason is that he got more opportunities. He had the ball in his hands more and took more shots.
The second reason, which is related to the first, is that now, with more opportunities, he was able to experiment with things that he learned from defending elite scorers.
On “Taylor Rooks X,” he told Bleacher Report’s Taylor Rooks that he learned how to initiate contact and get a call from Paul George.
He says that from guarding PG, he learned how referees determine fouls and how to use it to his advantage.
“I took from that offensively, guarding a guy like that knowing like, okay, any slight mess-up, any little hiccup I did on him defensively, he’s gonna, like -he knows when to get a foul. Like he just knows. So any time I kind of put a hand out there or whatever, it’s a foul.
“So now it’s just in the back of my head… So now, I’m on offence and I’m coming, I’m being aggressive, and once I feel that contact, it’s like I’m going to get fouled.”
Bridges also said that he learned how to make plays from Steph Curry.
He said Curry is a master at making the correct play even if he’s under pressure.
“I think about Steph [Curry] and the thing I take away from him is he’s a big hockey assist guy… with how much coverage he gets with double teams and stuff, he just makes the right play, you know what I’m saying?
“But the majority of the time, he hit the roller or hit the next guy and they’ll make the play. So, I take that from him: Just making the simple play.”
After joining the Nets, Bridges’ points per game went from 17 to 26. His free-throw attempts per game also doubled.
However, in the first 17 games of the 2023-24 season, he hasn’t played as well as his first 27 games with the Nets.
Hopefully, he’ll start picking things up soon because Brooklyn needs to improve their win percentage if they want to compete in the playoffs this season.
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