While Boston’s Jayson Tatum dispelled of the notion that his shot was broken within minutes of opening tip, shooting 6-of-9 from 3 in Tuesday’s first half, Knicks counterpart Mikal Bridges cannot say the same.
Bridges missed all five his shot attempts in the opening half, including four 3-point attempts. He did not make his first shot until a smoother-looking corner 3-pointer in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
His shot clearly looks different, and he told reporters last week that he indeed changed his mechanics.
“When I came out of college, I kind of tweaked it a little bit,” he said. “Then my second year in the league, I had the hitch, and tried to build back from that ever since. So just trying to get it right. Pretty much it.”
The hitch is back. Bridges shot 2-for-19 from deep in the preseason. So why Bridges did feel the need to change his jumper. He is a career 37.5% 3-point shooter and shot 37.2% on 7.2 tries a game last season.