Mikal Bridges' defense on Tyrese Maxey one of biggest factors in Knicks' commanding series lead over 76ers

PHILADELPHIA – If you're waking up on Saturday morning feeling good about the Knicks’ prospects in this postseason, you can thank Mikal Bridges.

Bridges' defense on Tyrese Maxey has one of the biggest factors in this Knicks-Sixers series.

Maxey is averaging 18.6 points over three games against the Knicks -- that’s 10 points fewer than his regular-season average, he’s 2-for-12 from beyond the arc, and has 12 turnovers.

That’s nearly double his regular-season average.

Bridges isn’t the only Knick defending Maxey, but he’s drawn the assignment most often, and he’s aced it.

“He’s doing an amazing job. That’s a tough task, a tall order. The way he is able to maneuver and navigate screens, do all those things, and on top of that, give us good shots, good minutes and a good quality of executing on the offensive end is great,” Josh Hart said after New York’s Game 3 win.

Bridges is chasing Maxey all over the floor; defending him on and off the ball, stifling his backdoor cuts.

While doing all of that, the much-maligned Bridges has also found a way to impact the other end of the floor.

He had 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting in Game 3. That’s four straight games with at least 17 points. He’s hit 69 percent of his shots in that span.

Quite a bounce back from Game 3 of the Hawks series, when Bridges went 0-for-4 with four turnovers.

“Kal is one of those guys, I never worry about him because he’s going to bring it every game. He’s going to take each matchup personal,” Hart said. “When he gets into that mindset and that mode he’s a heck of a player.”