Mikal Bridges

Somewhere in this world of eight billion people, there’s a defensive-minded basketball coach assembling clips that illustrate the many ways a lockdown specialist can tilt a game’s trajectory through the power of a well-timed steal. Here’s hoping that, at some point, the television was flipped to Mikal Bridges’ two-game open to the 2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Quickly becoming the last player Boston Celtics fans wanted to see with arms raised, Bridges conducted a 72-hour reign of terror in crunchtime, first by ripping possession away from Jaylen Brown — and thus, their victory aspirations — for a Game One victory. Confirming Game Two to be a “different makeup, same face” result, Bridges conceals his intentions flawlessly as a help defender against Jayson Tatum before timing up a half-steal, half-block-type shutdown of Boston’s superstar during another come-from-behind win. The early-series back-to-back in Boston watched the Knicks either trail or tie for 87 percent of the game, only for them to show the Celtics how quickly things can change in a “New York minute.” Stamping the series with two-way greatness, Bridges eventually became a driving force in the Big Apple advancing to its first Conference Finals appearance in 25 years.