Mikal Bridges' performance has been a hot topic during the playoffs as he's struggled shooting at times, causing critics to say the Knicks overpaid when they traded five future first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for the wing last offseason.

It's been a quiet 72-hour stretch for those people with Bridges coming up in the clutch on game-sealing defensive stops in both of New York's wins over the Boston Celtics. Bridges ripped the ball away from Jaylen Brown in the Game 1 win on Monday and then stole the ball from Jayson Tatum to ice the Game 2 win on Wednesday night.

"That's what he does, that's what he does," Karl-Anthony Towns said of Bridges after the victory. "We got the Clutch Player of the Year in the NBA and we possibly got one of the most clutchest defenders in the NBA as well. It's only right that for all the talk people have done about Mikal, it's when the lights are the brightest that he gets to show his worth."

Jalen Brunson gave New York a 91-90 lead with 12.7 seconds remaining in Game 2 and Boston chose not to call timeout and played it out. Tatum brought up the ball and was picked up on the defensive switch by Mitchell Robinson, who stayed with Tatum and got help from OG Anunoby before Bridges came over and knocked the ball out of Tatum's hands.

After the win, Bridges thanked his teammates for doing all they could to get the final stop and pushing him throughout the game. Bridges was held scoreless through three quarters, but scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to help pull off another 20-point comeback victory and take a 2-0 series lead.

"Just a hell of a job with Mitch and OG guarding pick and roll," Bridges said. "Mitch running him off the line, playing good defense. OG even helping him out. Just trying to re-react. OG make him take a tough step-back and just try to help and try to win the game."

He added: "Everything to my teammates, man. They helped me up, throughout the whole, me missing every shot until that point. It's really truly them, just holding me together and keeping me mentally right and just telling me to keep going. I thank coach also just trusting me, coming out the fourth and running a play for me, putting that confidence in me. It's really my teammates and my coaches, they really helped me up."

Bridges credited his mental toughness but admitted it "hurts" when he's missing shots and it affects the game. He reiterated thanks to his teammates for helping him through the adversity and shared what's made him built for moments like the past two games.

"Just how I was raised. My mom's real strong, mentally tough. Growing up, my mom just made me like that," Bridges said. "Going through experience, going through college with Coach Wright and Villanova, he preached mental toughness. That really brought it out of me. I had it growing up, but I think college made it even more and established that. That's who I am."

Despite being down by 20 points in both games against Boston, Bridges and the Knicks never lost faith in their chances.

"I think we're just confident, confident knowing just always gonna find a way," Bridges said. "A lot of us saying on the bench while we were down, just like, 'We've been here before, we've been here before. Pretty sure we're going to win this game.' You can look in everybody's eyes and it's not a stressed look, it's kinda like a confident look. Knowing, alright, see how much time left, take it one play at a time, you can't get it all back on one play. Score on offense and get a stop, keep trying to do it on both ends."