Knicks Notes: Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mike Brown, East finals

It didn’t look great early. Knicks forward Mikal Bridges struggled through the first three games against Atlanta and even had a scoreless outing in Game 3.

Coach Mike Brown stuck with him anyway. That trust paid off.

Bridges found his rhythm late in the series and carried it into the second round, playing a major role in the sweep of Philadelphia. Over his last seven games, all wins, he’s averaged 15.6 points while shooting a blistering .667 from the field and .444 from three.

“It’s always great when your coach has got trust in you,” Bridges said, via the New York Post. “And teammates staying with it, keeping me confident, as well.”

He didn’t just score. He defended, too. Tyrese Maxey never quite got comfortable, and Bridges had a lot to do with that.

“Just trying to do whatever it takes to win,” Bridges said. “Even in my mistakes, just gotta bounce back.”

Twin towers

Brown hasn’t leaned heavily on the Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson pairing.

Maybe he should. In limited minutes together, about 20 total, the Knicks have crushed opponents to the tune of plus-27.9 per 100 possessions, per the New York Daily News.

“I came to a little bit of a revelation with those guys,” Brown said. “We feel it’s a little easier to play with them — not just defensively, but offensively, too.”

The Knicks will take on the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.

Towns touch

The Knicks have won seven straight since putting more of the offense in Towns’ hands. That’s not going unnoticed.

His former college coach, John Calipari, sees a familiar style emerging. Not just scoring. Facilitating. Dictating.

“What everybody is seeing is that playing through him doesn’t take away from anybody else’s game,” Calipari said, via Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News. “On the contrary, it adds to everybody else’s game.”

He even gave it a name. “I call that Jokic style,” Calipari said.

Rest factor

The Knicks wrapped up their series early. Real early.

By the time the conference finals tip Tuesday, they’ll have had nine days off. Good thing or bad thing? Even Brown isn’t sure.

“I’ve been in both situations,” he said. “You can say they’re going to be tired, but you can also say they have a competitive edge.”

So the focus now is simple. Stay sharp. Stay ready.

“You keep trying to do different things during the downtime,” Brown said, “to keep them focused and try to keep their competitive edge up.”