Everything Miles Bridges Said At Sunday's Hornets Practice
Bridges spoke after making his return to the hardwood two days ago.
Following a ten-game absence, Miles Bridges returned to the court for the Charlotte Hornets in Chicago on Friday night. His return was much-needed for Charles Lee’s squad, as the Hornets have slowly been getting healthier after suffering from some bad injury luck.
Bridges initially exited Charlotte’s lineup after suffering a bone bruise in his knee against the Detroit Pistons on November 6. After sitting for just three games, Miles returned against the Milwaukee Bucks only 10 days later.
This was par for the course given Bridges’ history of being quick to heal. But in the game against the Nets on November 19, Miles stepped on a foot late in the contest that re-aggravated his injury, causing him to miss more time.
Charlotte did not take home the win on Friday, but Bridges’ presence was still a big upgrade. Prior to the game against Chicago, Hornets sideline reporter Shannon Spake said that Bridges had told her he felt like he could have been back “three or four games ago.”
I asked him about that statement at the Hornets’ practice on Sunday, and Miles indicated that mindset just being part of his competitive attitude.
“That’s just me,” he said. “I always think I can play, but they obviously know what’s best for me. They want me to stay off my knee until I’m fully healthy, so that’s just me being competitive.”
Bridges also talked more about his individual health, and spoke on the team’s play as of late as well.
On what stood out most from Friday’s game film:
“Just the way we started the game. And then it translated to us not making shots and messing up our defensive coverages, so we’ve just got to start the game better.”
On if the missed three-pointers carried over to the defense and the overall scope of that problem:
“I mean for me, I’m trying to get my legs back. But we’re just missing shots. It’s rare we miss that many shots. What did we combine for, 75, isn’t that a record? 75 missed threes? So, we’ll be in the gym, we’ll be putting up shots, so we’re not going to miss like that again.”
On how he is feeling and how long he will take to get his wind back:
“I’ll probably say like two more games. I’m on a minute restriction right now, but it’s good. I’m gonna just keep working towards it, keep progressing, keep getting people back from injury.”
On if playing a lot of different lineups due to injuries has made continuity and chemistry a challenge:
“Yeah, I mean just re-learning everybody’s game. I haven’t played with Mark [Williams] in damn near a year. So being able to be on the court with him for the first time, I’ve got to learn what he likes to do again. And we’ll move on.”
On what has stood out about Tidjane Salaun:
“It kind of reminds me of myself my rookie year. Having Kemba, Jeremy Lamb, a bunch of vets around. It’s kind of the same with him having Melo, me, Taj, all them around. But he’s just learning, and he’s getting better every game. So I’m happy to see the growth.”
“Just him learning and being coachable. Him being able to just adapt to everything. He went from starting, to not starting, to not playing, to playing again. So just his mindset, showing how strong his mindset is.”
On the team’s chemistry:
“Yeah, it’s good chemistry. We’ve got off the court chemistry and on the court chemistry, we’ve just got to put it together during the games.”
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