Knicks Star's Breakout Marred By Memorable Miss

The pressure has no doubt dropped on Bridges, who has faced overbearing levels of scrutiny since the Knicks sent a good bit of their future across town to land his services. In his defense, Bridges appeared somewhat poised to start rewriting his narrative during the early portions of Monday's game.

Game 2 was seemingly plucked from the 1990s, a bruising, if not intriguing, slugfest that hinted that defense may still have a place in the modern Association. Bridges swiped three turnovers from Detroit in the first half and united with Jalen Brunson to score 30 of the Knicks' 49 tallies in the first 24 minutes.

Alas, Bridges co-authored a sour ending, one that will likely do little to sway critics of the high-profile deal that brought him to Manhattan. Bridges missed each of his four tries from the field in the last four minutes, stifling a Knicks comeback that could only tie the game after falling behind by as much as 15.

The last may have given Knicks fans a bleak sense of deja vu: Bridges put up his deep ball mere inches away from the same plot of MSG hardwood that hosted Donte DiVincenzo's Game 2 winner against Philadelphia almost exactly one year ago. DiVincenzo, of course, was dealt to Minnesota in another high-profile Knicks trade, one that acquired Karl-Anthony Towns, who was likewise held scoreless in Monday's final period.

But the spotlight is still firmly thrust upon Bridges, whose next opportunities for salvation come in Detroit, which will host the third and fourth games of the series. The two days off before part three on Thursday will no doubt offer plenty of analysis of the Bridges deal and such takes likely won't speak in the Knicks' favor.

Faith, however, continues to prevail in the Bridges proceedings, part of it perhaps brought about by his decent first half work that helped keep the game from spiraling out of control. Having previously praised Bridges for his unselfish attitude during the hardships of Game 1 (which saw Bridges remain on the bench amidst Cameron Payne's fourth quarter mastery), Hart offered another vote of confidence for his embattled collegiate and professional teammate.

"We've got confidence in him," Hart firmly declared in video from SNY. "He puts the work in. We're comfortable and confident with him taking that shot and we'll live with the result. I'm rocking with him until the end."