LAS VEGAS \u2014 Jalen Bridges did not see action for the Summer League Celtics in their opener on Friday but got his chance on Sunday night with Hugo Gonzalez (rest) getting the night off. <\/p>\n
The former Suns two-way player made his impact felt in the starting lineup, scoring 16 points with a host of impressive finishes and 3-point makes to help lead the way for Boston in a 92-78 win over the Knicks. <\/p>\n
\u201cI saw a guy that\u2019s ready to play,\u201d Celtics Summer League coach Matt Reynolds said. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to do that: to watch, sit on the bench and then get inserted into the starting lineup and then just fill a role. I don\u2019t think he was out there trying to do too much. I think he does exactly what you expect him to do. He\u2019s a pro, he knows what he\u2019s doing. And we commend him for stepping in, having not played and contributing to a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bridges is searching for a permanent new home in the wake of a stint with the Suns that lasted just a year after he went undrafted. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was on a two-way contract with the Suns and things kind of fell through there,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cThey chose to go in a different direction and I signed the summer league deal to represent the Celtics this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether Bridges opportunity lasts beyond this week in Boston remains to be seen but he put his best foot forward in showcasing what made him a promising 3-and-D prospect out of Baylor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like my goals are just to go out and play hard, play with effort,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cI feel like when you do that, the basketball gods are gonna take care of you, the ball just seems to find you, whether that be transition, making a lay up, making an easy open shot. I feel like when you play hard, the rest takes care of itself so that\u2019s really just what I\u2019m trying to hang my hat on, just be the hardest playing guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bridges showed impressive flashes of athleticism with his defense, posting two blocks and two steals in his 23 minutes. With more rest of the horizon likely for Boston\u2019s regulars, Bridges should have a chance to show the Suns made a mistake in letting him go. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very self aware,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily feel like I gave them reasons to keep me. I feel like I had a good season, but I know what I\u2019m capable of and I feel like I didn\u2019t play up to that. I didn\u2019t live up to that, so I mean it is what it is. It\u2019s a business and I\u2019m just happy for this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Jalen Bridges did not see action for the Summer League Celtics in their opener on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-9068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}