NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges has been one of the players on the team who have consistently talked about getting stops as a reason for winning or not getting stops as a reason for losing. In Sunday’s 111-110 win over the Utah Jazz, all Bridges could do is hope in the end.
“Just make them (the Jazz) take a tough shot,” Bridges said after scoring 30 points in a victory that was much closer than expected if someone watched the first half of the contest. Brooklyn led by 23 points when Day’Ron Sharpe made a layup with 9:51 left in the fourth quarter to put the Nets in front 93-70 and from there, Utah went on a 40-18 to make the game interesting for everyone involved.
“I think personally, I didn’t want Talen (Horton-Tucker) or Lauri (Markkanen) taking the last shot,” Bridges continued. “So, I was just hoping just as you know, you can’t control that, but just hoping they don’t, you know, get an opportunity. But um, I mean, it’s tough. Go full-court, you know, five seconds on defense and stuff right there. I was just hoping for a stop.” Bridges had one of his more inefficient games shooting the ball (9-of-25 from the field, 1-of-8 from three-point land), but he made up for it by going 11-of-13 from the foul line and by picking up three steals.
Like Bridges was hoping for, neither Horton-Tucker not Markkanen took the last shot for the Jazz. In fact, it was Kelly Olynyk who had the last attempt, but it came close to going in. Once Olynyk’s shot fell short, everybody in Barclays Center knew that they could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they escaped with a win.
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