WASHINGTON — The Nets are going to need Mikal Bridges to keep playing like an All-Star to get back to their early-season winning ways.
And if he wants to get that honor for the first time in his career, Brooklyn is going to have to get back to stacking victories.
It has the perfect opportunity Friday night in Washington against the woebegone Wizards.
Bridges is averaging 21.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists, all career-bests.
He’s earned his way into the picture as an Eastern Conference frontcourt reserve for the Feb. 18 NBA All-Star Game.
But to edge out competition from the likes of Paolo Banchero, Julius Randle and Bam Adebayo, Bridges will need consistency and Brooklyn will need victories.
“Mikal is playing his way into an All-Star-type of conversation,” Nets point guard Spencer Dinwiddie said, before adding the caveat, “if we can be fortunate enough to keep winning.”
Therein lies the rub.
As befitting their status as essentially a .500 team — 15-16 heading into Friday — the Nets have been wildly inconsistent. And Bridges hasn’t just been the barometer for their success, but the likely causality.
“My coaches and teammates, they just give me that confidence to go out there and be that guy to make those shots, make those plays,” Bridges said. “Credit to them: When you feel that everybody around you [being] confident in you, you get that extra confidence in yourself. So now I just appreciate [that] I’ve got them on my side, and it gets me going.”
And as he goes, so go the Nets.
Brooklyn followed a three-game losing skid by winning seven of its next nine. Bridges averaged 24.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists during that run, shooting 51.0 percent overall and a scalding 51.1 percent from deep.
But that hot streak cooled off, immediately going into a season-worst five-game losing skid, Bridges averaging just 13.8 points on 30.8 percent shooting during that slump. He looked leggy and the Nets seemed tired as a team.
Now? After Bridges bounced back with 29 and 21 points to lead the Nets to closer-than-they-should’ve-been wins over a historically bad Detroit team, they essentially rested him without resting him.
Bridges kept his consecutive games played streak going at 423 straight — never having missed a game in the NBA — but didn’t log a single second after the first quarter Wednesday against Milwaukee, with the team essentially punting the game. It wasn’t a decision he was happy about.
“I guess for their purposes [the streak] is why. But I’m healthy, so I wouldn’t see why I wouldn’t play,” said Bridges, as his Nets tip off a four-game, seven-day road trip.
“Just got be pros. A lot of us have been in it for a long time, so nothing new. [We’ve] been through roller[-coaster] stretches, been through stretches for five years now. So it’s nothing new to me, nothing new to anybody else in here that’s been in the league for a while. So just got to be a pro.”
What is new for Bridges is being in the All-Star conversation.
Some frontcourt players are givens in the East, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum and reigning MVP Joel Embiid. But there are still spots to be had.
Wednesday’s poorly handled kerfuffle aside, Bridges’ ironman streak plays in his favor, in the top 10 in minutes logged at 1,052.
That compares favorably with Kristaps Porzingis’ modest 639 entering Thursday, and Adebayo’s 677.
Randle has excelled on offense and on the glass for the Knicks, but Bridges’ overall efficiency and ability to guard the opponent’s top scorer despite an increased offensive burden hold him in good stead.
And Banchero’s own wild fluctuations in form and up-and-down play make Bridges’ modest shooting hiccup seem the model of consistency.
Nic Claxton (illness) and Dorian Finney-Smith (left knee soreness) are both probable for Friday.
Ben Simmons (left lower back nerve impingement) and Lonnie Walker IV (left hamstringstrain) are out, as are Noah Clowney, Dariq Whitehead, Armoni Brooks, Keon Johnson and Jalen Wilson.