It was a night and day — or road and home — turnaround for Mikal Bridges in his first two games with the Knicks.
Any concern over his wayward shooting appears to be behind him.
Bridges marked his regular-season Garden debut with 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting in the Knicks’ 123-98 win over the Pacers.
“It was dope, man,” Bridges said. “Just the excitement in here; it’s really crazy. Just happy to get a win.”
Bridges checked out to a huge ovation from his new home crowd with the Knicks leading by 28 with 9:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Bridges, who was acquired from the Nets over the summer, has nailed 15 of 20 shot attempts over his past six quarters after he’d missed his first five shots, including four from 3-point range, in a scoreless first half Tuesday night against the Celtics.
He also had discussed tinkering with his shot while shooting 2 of 19 from 3-point range in the preseason.
“When you think about it logically, I think where we are today, with social media, everybody wants to have an opinion on everything,” Tom Thibodeau said. “And yet the guy who’s doing the work every day, when you watch him work, you know how much he puts into it, and then his body of work.
“No one is gonna shoot great for 82 games. Oftentimes, you’re in preseason and just trying to work through things and get in a rhythm, and you’re trying to figure out a new system and new teammates. And each day, that gets better and better. But if you think logically, this guy has shot almost 38 percent from 3 for his career. Me, I’d bet on that.”
Bridges also was torched in that game by All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, who buried eight of Boston’s NBA record-tying 29 treys.
But he also improved dramatically at the defensive end Friday night, helping hold Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton scoreless.
Imported center Karl-Anthony Towns also had a more impactful game Friday than he did in his quiet 12-point, seven-rebound night in Boston, finishing with 21 points, 15 boards and two blocked shots in 32 minutes.
“I thought Karl had a monster game,” Thibodeau said.