The Brooklyn Nets took care of the Miami Heat Wednesday night, 116-105 in front of their home crowd. Newly acquired Mikal Bridges had a monster game, dropping a career high 45 points in the win. Despite the stellar performance from the 26-year-old forward, he was still highly critical of himself after the game.

“Defense always comes first. I'm still kinda mad that I gave up a couple buckets there… That's just who I am. I just think defense wins championships,” Bridges said after the game.

Prior to coming over to the Nets in the blockbuster Kevin Durant trade, Mikal Bridges consistently hung has hat on his defense. He had become known as one of the better on-ball defenders in the league. Over his four plus seasons with the Phoenix Suns, Bridges posted between 1.1 and 1.6 steals per game, consistently ranking among the league leaders.

But that doesn't mean that he was not equally capable offensively. But on a roster that included Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton, there simply weren't enough shots to go around for him to make a consistent impact on that end of the floor. When he did shoot the ball though, Bridges was highly efficient.

From the 2019-2020 season through the 2021-2022 season, he averaged better than 53 percent shooting from the field. Those are great efficiency numbers, particularly for a small forward in today's NBA.

But now that he is in Brooklyn, and both Durant and Kyrie Irving are gone, there is going to be plenty of opportunities to showcase his skill set.