Barbara Barker: Mikal Bridges steps up with great defense as Knicks defeat 76ers

Tyrese Maxey is widely recognized as one of the toughest covers in the NBA.

The 76ers guard ranks among the league’s fastest players. When he combines that high-octane speed with his game IQ and ability to score from almost anywhere on the court, he can simply dictate the flow and direction of a game.

So, it’s no surprise that heading into the Eastern Conference semifinals series between the Knicks and the 76ers that many Knicks fans were cringing at the thought of the much-maligned Mikal Bridges being one of the primary defenders in charge of slowing Maxey.

It didn’t matter that Bridges came up big in the Knicks’ closeout Game 6 win in the first-round series against Atlanta. He was so awful in the first five that he was twice benched in the second half and it was hard to imagine that he could come out on top in a matchup with a guard like Maxey.

Bridges showed fans at Madison Square Garden that it might be time to rethink that take. Bridges took a step toward redemption Monday night as the Knicks took a 1-0 lead over Philadelphia with a stunningly easy 137-98 victory at Madison Square Garden.

Bridges, with a lot of help from OG Anunoby, held Maxey to a playoff-low 13 points on 3-for-9 shooting. It marked the first time since Feb. 23 that Maxey has had a game in which he scored under 20 points.

In the 76ers’ seven-game first-round series against Boston, Maxey averaged 26.9 points, which was the fourth highest of any player in the playoffs.

“He’s a huge factor for us and he’s been playing great,” Jalen Brunson said of Bridges. “There are times throughout the season when every player has his ups and downs, but he stays mentally strong and he stays mentally focused. He comes into work and does his work and his routine and all that stuff. As long as you keep chipping away, things are going to fall in your favor.

Bridges also had a strong offensive game, scoring 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting, including the first bucket of the game, a quick layup on an assist from Josh Hart that seemed to energize the Knicks’ fan base.

Bridges and Anunoby were brought here because the Knicks always thought their path to the Eastern Conference finals would go through the Celtics. What Knicks fans call their “Wingstop” defense was designed to take on the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

So now that the 76ers have knocked Tatum and Brown out of the payoffs, the duo is using the “Wingstop” defense to stop a player who isn’t a wing.

Bridges has a history of stepping it up for big games in the playoffs.

Last season, Bridges made fans forget an unremarkable regular season with clutch performances that gave the Knicks a 2-0 lead in their second-round series against the Celtics.

In Game 1, he sealed the overtime victory when he stole the ball from Jaylen Brown in the final seconds. In Game 2, he scored 14 points in the final quarter to help the Knicks overcome a 20-point deficit. The Knicks ended up winning the series in six.

In the Knicks’ series against Atlanta, he struggled mightily on offense, scoring in single figures in three of the first five games. That led to a public outcry for Brown to pull Bridges out of the starting lineup and replace him with McBride. Brown’s faith in Bridges paid off in Game 6.

Brown said it wasn’t hard to keep his faith in Bridges, even when he was struggling early in the playoffs.

“He’s been our starting two guard all year and he’s had a really good season so for me it was easy,” he said. “As a coach, it’s up me to think about everything. Do I need to change this or change that. in terms of Mikal that’s a no-brainer.

“But he was really good tonight, you know, defensively. He didn’t shut Maxey down. Maxey missed some shots. and our team defense behind him was pretty good but the one thing that I give Mikal a lot of credit for is his alertness and his ability to have multiple efforts when guarding Maxey . . . You can’t ever relax. And Mikal did as good as he could, trying to stay with him whether he was moving or when he gave up the basketball . . . Defensively, he was really good.”

Good enough that the Knicks fans seemed to forget his past struggles and gave him a loud ovation when he was pulled from the game in favor of the subs late in the third quarter.

By Barbara Barker

barbara.barker@newsday.commeanbarb

Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.