This week, Jamal Murray shook off an illness to help Denver take OKC to the limit; Stephen Curry believes the Warriors still have a two-year championship window with Jimmy Butler on board; and the lawsuits against the Suns keep piling up. Other Fantasy basketball stories we’re following include…

Mikal Bridges Needs to Step Up

In failing to close out the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, the New York Knicks were almost completely negated down low, scoring a mere 26 points in the paint. That will need to change on Friday.

Another thing that needs to change? How about a big offensive game from Mikal Bridges?

Bridges’ first season as a Knick has been marred by stinkers, which really smarts considering the team outbid Houston by shelling out five first round picks to acquire him from a constantly rebuilding Brooklyn squad. And while he came up huge in Game Four with 23 points, seven boards and four steals, that was his only time scoring over 14 in this series. In fairness, Bridges has been getting it done on D (see video below).

His PT dipped down the stretch, but is way up during the postseason, yet the production has not followed as he’s actually getting fewer touches. It sort of mirrors Bridges’ regular season when he set a career high in MPG, yet saw his scoring regress for a second straight campaign.

At this point, can we admit that his performance down the stretch in 2022-23 after getting dealt to Brooklyn was an outlier? Still, there’s a lot to like about his game. Coming out of Villanova, Bridges offered great size for a combo guard and was considered a stellar defender with a very strong jumper. Passing, however, was not a strength, although he’s improved in this regard.

Bridges shot the ball better this season and he pitched in with a few more blocks, but consistency continues to be his bugaboo, both from game to game and month to month. The Knicks will need to see more predictability here for their investment to pay off (for instance, when he scores 20 or more points, the team is 3-0 in these playoffs).

So a big performance Friday to help push New York into the Eastern Conference Final would go a long way.

Thunder Facing Elimination

The Oklahoma City Thunder – despite having the best record in the NBA this season – find themselves pushed to the brink, with a Game Seven against Denver on tap for Sunday.

If OKC is going to take this game as the odds suggest (eight-point faves as per FanDuel), it will need contributions from others beyond star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. How about starting SG Luguentz Dort?

He dealt with some injuries earlier in his career, but has never quite been able to duplicate his breakout 2021-22 campaign as his offense has regressed since.

No longer a dude who gets even double-digit shots per game, Dort almost matched his career-best FG accuracy from last season, but his scoring from the free throw line has really dried up in the last few years.

Even if he’s not the most desired Fantasy asset, he’s capable of a bit more offense than he’s shown in these playoffs so far (notwithstanding that great fourth quarter in Game Five when he canned three straight treys to key a comeback win), so some more secondary scoring from him in Game Seven would go a long way.

Waiver Wire Pick of the Week

Luke Kornet, C, Boston Celtics (ESPN: 1.9 per cent; CBS: 6 per cent): Kornet is certainly not the first player we thought would benefit from Jayson Tatum’s injury, but when combined with the fact that Kristaps Porzingis continues to have health issues it’s carved a path to more PT for Kornet. And Kornet responded in Game Five, reaching double-digit points for the first time in over two months while flirting with a triple-double (10 points, nine boards and seven blocks). Back in 2020, we pimped him, and it was a good pick as he played well before injury cut short his season. Kornet never quite duplicated that level of production, until this season, when he saw his most PT ever and proved an asset in blocks and steals in deeper formats. His unexpected heroics (which earned him a new nickname) may have just saved Boston’s season, and while he’s not attractive as a dynasty option, he may help you right now, for another game or two, or perhaps longer should the C’s dig their way out of this hole.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

After some early lineup changes, Depeche Mode had the same personnel from 1981 until 1995. In 1998, they released another compilation album, The Singles 86-98, which included the track “Home,” originally from 1997’s Ultra.