Phoenix Suns wing Mikal Bridges proved why he finished second in NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting on Tuesday night at Footprint Center.

In a 112-97 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in Game 5 of their first-round series, Bridges led the Suns with a playoff career-high 31 points on nearly 47 minutes played to take a 3-2 lead in the series.

Bridges defended the Pelicans’ two most-lethal scorers: C.J. McCollum and Brandon Ingram, the latter of whom he had not spent much time against in the first four games of the first-round series.

McCollum and Ingram combined to shoot 14-of-41 (34%).

Mikal Bridges tonight:

31 points on 17 shots

Defended CJ McCollum for 36 plays, held him to 10 points on 3/11 shooting

Defended Brandon Ingram for 34 plays, held him to 7 points on 2/5 plus 3 turnovers

All that in 46:54 of playing time

Extraordinary performance for the Suns.

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) April 27, 2022

Bridges added five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a whopping four blocks — a postseason career-high for the fourth-year pro.

4 blocks 🖐🏾

Mikal Bridges is at a postseason career high! pic.twitter.com/9qDuv2EHvt

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) April 27, 2022

In fact, the only Suns player to register a block on the night was Phoenix’s ironman.

Bridges shot an astounding 70.6% on the night on 12-of-17 attempts in addition to a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range and the free throw line while only committing one turnover.

The Suns will travel to New Orleans for Game 6 with a chance to win the series on Thursday.

Tip-off from Smoothie King Center is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Arizona time on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

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