Mikal Bridges is one of the league’s stand-out defenders, finishing as one of the finalists for Defensive Player of the Year in 2022. With Bridges spending the start of his career in the West and now playing in the East, he’s guarded the top superstars in the league repeatedly. In an interview with Taylor Rooks, Bridges explained what it is like to guard Paul George, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, and Stephen Curry.
He started with George, explaining that it’s important to find the balance between aggression and passive play.
“You gotta guard PG close because he can shoot, so you have to be aggressive. You can’t be too aggressive because then he’s gonna get the foul call. Make him make tough shots.”
Bridges is intimately familiar with Luka Doncic after their 2022 playoff matchup, admitting that keeping up with Luka’s shifty pace is a massive task.
“Same thing with [Luka] fouling-wise. Don’t even dare. He’s too smart. He plays slow, his gears, he’s got really good gears like going slow to fast and then back to slow to fast again.”
Bridges is now in the same division as Jayson Tatum and the pair will have a lot more matchups to look forward to. Bridges gave credit to Tatum for his craftiness and finishing ability.
“I think Tatum finishes really well. He is crafty. Setting things up, setting the pick-and-roll. His in-and-out is nasty, so. You guard any superstar, you’re locked in.”
“You gotta guard PG close. [Luka’s] really good at going slow to fast. Tatum is crafty and when you’re guarding Steph, you’re locked in.”
Mikal Bridges on guarding Paul George, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, and Steph Curry 😅
(via @BleacherReport)pic.twitter.com/hXE2LRWMx0
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 22, 2023
Bridges had a far deeper explanation about Curry, who is the greatest shooter in league history and one of the toughest matchups in the league due to his incredible on and off-ball ability.
“He’s a big hockey assist guy, which I appreciate about him. Like how much coverage he gets with double-team stuff, he just makes the right play. What I’m saying sometimes, he might get crazy because he plays fun. He might try something crazy, but that’s just natural. The majority of the time, he hits the roller or hits the next guy and they’ll make the play because he brings two to the ball. He’s just non-stop, he’s the most unique. It’s easier to play on the ball with him because like as a defender as anybody else, it’s easy to relax off the ball. Guarding that man, that’s like a 24-shot clock (job).”
Mikal Bridges details guarding Steph Curry pic.twitter.com/5n5IBcFvGm
— human torch (@curryrange_) November 22, 2023
Bridges is sensational as a defender, but the best offensive players in the league are unstoppable. Bridges can hope to do his best, but players of this caliber will often find offensive success regardless of the coverage.
Paul George, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, And Stephen Curry Stats Against Mikal Bridges
Over Bridges’ five-year NBA career, he has had plenty of matchups with the four stars he mentioned. He’s played against George 12 times in his career, with George averaging 25.1 points on 46.9% from the field. Bridges managed to win only four of these encounters, showing that George may be one of the players that still gets the better of him.
Doncic proved he was unguardable in the 2022 playoffs with Bridges as one of the primary players on him. But in the regular season, Bridges has a more wins head-to-head against Doncic, with both being draft classmates. In 16 matchups, Luka has only won six while Bridges has 10 wins. But Doncic averages 26.6 points on 48.2% shooting.
Tatum and Bridges are going to face each other a lot more often in the coming season but have had 12 games against each other so far. That’s not good news for Tatum, who averages 21.5 points on a paltry 39.0% from the field. They both have six wins apiece.
Curry has matched up against Bridges 13 times and has seven losses in those encounters, giving Bridges a 7-6 record advantage. Bridges doesn’t guard Curry as often as he does the others on this list, but Curry does struggle in those moments. He averages 24.7 points on 41.5% from the field.
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