Mikal Bridges benched down the stretch again in latest Knicks disappointment

Amid one of his disappearing acts, Mikal Bridges was again benched in the fourth quarter.The guard sat the final 9 ½ minutes of Thursday’s 126-11 Knicks defeat to the Pistons at the Garden, with Landry Shamet getting the playing time and trust from coach Mike Brown.“Landry had hit a couple shots.We needed to score,” Brown said.

“They’re both really good defenders.And so I just stayed with Landry.

But it wasn’t anything where, ‘Oh, I’m going to sit Mikal because he’s not doing this, or he’s not doing that.’ We were looking to score points and Landry was the only one to make a shot from behind the arc.”Shamet scored 15 points in 28 minutes Thursday.Bridges, who was acquired for five first-round picks and recently signed a $150 million extension, scored just eight points in 25 minutes.Bridges was also 0-for-3 from beyond the arc.He was also benched in favor of Shamet down the stretch of victories this month over the Sixers and Lakers.There has been more tanking discourse than ever across the NBA.Commissioner Adam Silver said during the All-Star break that tanking has been “worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory” and that he is considering “every possible remedy” to combat it.Brown weighed in on potential solutions before the team’s game against the Pistons on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.“Definitely trying to make somebody fight for it at the end of the season,” the Knicks coach said.

“Whether you have a small tournament before the playoffs start or something like that to where it’s not just guaranteed that the team with the worst record gets the best odds.That may change it a little bit.”Already, the Jazz and Pacers have been fined $500K and $100K, respectively, for sitting healthy players in recent games.Brown’s Knicks certainly aren’t in the tanking conversation, and his teams throughout his tenure have never really fit that description.

But he recognizes it has gotten out of hand.“Adam’...