Knicks’ Mikal Bridges struggles to regain Villanova’s shooting form

WASHINGTON — After a brutal shooting performance — and an overall difficult preseason from beyond the arc — Mikal Bridges admitted he tinkered with his shooting form to regain comfort at Villanova.

“From the time I came into the league, I tried to fix it until I got to college,” Bridges said. “So it’s been seven years of just every day.”

Bridges has an unconventional form flaw, a habit he said he picked up after turning pro in 2018. However, he clearly changed it again before this season and it was ineffective in the previous season.

In Friday’s preseason finale loss to the Wizards, Bridges missed all ten of his 3-point attempts – giving him a paltry 11 percent conversion rate in four appearances.

“When I left college, I tweaked it a little bit. And then my second year in the league, I had the problem and I’ve been trying to build back from it ever since,” said Bridges, who is a 38 percent NBA shooter despite shooting form issues during college. “So I just try to do it right. Pretty much everything.”

He wasn’t the only Knicks rookie who had trouble making threes.

Karl-Anthony Towns went 0-for-5 on Friday, giving him a 3-point percentage of just 17 percent (4:23) in the preseason.

That’s a far cry from Towns’ career efficiency from distance (40 percent), putting Towns among the best centers of all time.

“The shots just weren’t falling, and that’s OK, so I’m going to keep shooting them,” Towns said before posting 22 points and 12 rebounds in the Knicks’ 118-117 preseason loss to the Wizards. “I will continue to do what I do best and help my team win.”

The Knicks finished the preseason 3-1, with top producer Jalen Brunson averaging 21 points in just 23 minutes.

He had no problems with his shot or his form.

But the new guys were on it and the Knicks, whose biggest improvement this season may be shooting, only hit 30 percent of their three-pointers overall.

“The game tells you what to do. When you’re open, you have to shoot,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Of course the offense is great even without shots, we score a lot of goals. The defense has to be much better.”

Thibodeau expects the Knicks to be a high-volume 3-point team, but they will need to convert better than they did last season.

“[Friday] In the evening there were 36. I would like that number to be a little higher,” said the coach. “But we often got to the finish line (38 free throw attempts), and here too the value of the shots is important, i.e. the layups – obviously you try to make as many of them as possible. The simple baskets. The open 3s… The fact is that everyone understands the value of shots. The math of the game will tell you certain things. If your opponent gets 20 and you get 10, it will be difficult to win the game. A high volume and a minimal league average percentage would be ideal.”

Bridges hopes the problems with his form have been resolved.

“Correct the mistakes now,” Bridges said, “and get ready for the 82-game season.”