Mikal Bridges knows his problems with the Knicks are getting worse

CHARLOTTE — After another battle bus ride for Mikal Bridges on Friday afternoon — in which the guard sat on the bench for most of the fourth quarter of a narrow Knicks win — he promised, “I’ll be better as a teammate” and the coach energetically attacked the embattled guard.

“I’m not worried about (Bridges),” Josh Hart said. “I think the media and people are killing him. He is in a new situation. He finds himself in a situation where he has played 19 games in a different role than he has played in the last four years. So it’s our job to make it work. And all the other nonsense about what we gave up (the five first-round picks to the Nets) means nothing.

“If we win, if we win a championship, nobody cares how many picks we gave up. We could have given up 15 picks, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, we’re trying to win a championship. He will play a key role in this.”

Bridges, a disappointment on both ends for much of this season, scored eight points on 3-for-10 shooting and was used by Tom Thibodeau on just three defensive possessions in the final 8½ minutes.

It was the second time in the last four games that Bridges was forced off the field as Thibodeau finished with Miles McBride in the backcourt on Friday. The Knicks (11-8) quickly went on a run without Bridges and picked up the comeback win to complete their road trip 3-2.

“I have to play better. I was inconsistent,” said Bridges, who entered Friday’s game averaging 15.9 points on 31 percent shooting from three, leading the NBA in minutes. “I had some games where I played well, others not. I just have to find a rhythm within the team. That’s pretty much it. It hasn’t even been 20 games yet, I’m still trying to figure it out.”

Thibodeau said he stuck with McBride on the track Friday because he was “fresh,” “making shots” and “we were kind of stuck in the mud.”

Bridges, who was also on the bench in last week’s loss to the Jazz, said Thibs once again “made the right decision.”

“Go out and win the game. “The most important thing is just winning the game,” Bridges said. “But yes, of course I have to play better. With the opportunities I get, I have to convert.

“I had a lot of sloppy turnovers. A few times (where the opponent) scored when I came into the middle. I’m feeling better.”

The end of the first half was symbolic of the disappointment. With 1.1 seconds left after a Hornets basket, the Knicks just had to throw the ball into the ground to reach halftime. Instead, Bridges threw a pass right into the hands of Charlotte’s Josh Green, who sank a jumper at the buzzer for a 49-46 lead.

“I say this all the time – look, Mikal is going to be fine,” Thibodeau assured. “If he was a freshman, I would be worried because you don’t know who the freshman really is. There is no complete work. We know that Mikal has an extensive body of work.”

Even if Bridges didn’t recognize his role change on offense as a problem, there was a clear shift from the No. 1 option with Brooklyn to a distant No. 3 or even No. 4 with the Knicks. His aggressiveness and confidence have clearly suffered, and Bridges’ reluctance to push for contact is evident in his lack of free throw attempts (an average of less than one per game).

It’s a big enough problem that Hart said the team would work to resolve.

“We have to continue to build him up,” Hart said. “If you go out there and ridicule everything he does, that’s just a disservice to him.

“So we’ll all talk about it. We all have to make it work. And then we get the best version of Mikal. There are 19 games in the season. He’s a damn good player. He was in the final. He knows how to win. So we can put our minds at ease with all the criticism and petty politics of a winning player whenever he steps onto the court in any situation. And a lot of people can’t do what he does.”

Jalen Brunson, who was also Bridges’ college teammate, added: “He’s one of us. We don’t leave anyone behind on an island.”