PHX Reporter

With the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks NBA Playoffs semifinal round matchup coming down to a decisive Game 7, Mikal Bridges’ prediction is proving to be right on the mark.

“We’re all competitive,” Bridges told Arizona Sports 98.7FM of his battle-within-a-battle faceoffs against former Villanova teammate and current Mavericks star Jalen Brunson. “I know JB, he’s not going to see me and think he’s going to take it lightly. He’s probably going to turn it up another notch.”

While at Villanova, the two won a pair of national titles and Bridges insists he hasn’t been surprised to see Brunson quickly make an NBA name for himself in emerging from the shadows of Mavericks teammate and worldwide star Luka Dončić.

“I just know he knows if he was the dude with the ball more in his hands, he’s going to dominate,” Bridges said. “I know that, as well. Just to see that coming to light when Luka was out for a couple games and (Brunson) literally going bonkers, I was literally just like, ‘That’s who he is.'”

Leading up to the series, Bridges recalled that he and Brunson had more than a few intense battles at Villanova, all in the name of preparing the other for the competition.

That fire was on full display during each of their team’s first-round showings, with Bridges netting 49 points over the last two games in the Suns win over New Orleans and Brunson averaging 24 points in back-to-back wins over Utah to close out that series.  

Over the first three games of the series while Dončić was sidelined with a calf injury, Brunson totaled 96 points to keep the Mavericks moving forward.

“Jalen gets overlooked a lot,” Suns point guard Chris Paul, who shared an agent with Brunson’s dad while he played in the NBA, said. “High IQ, always gonna be making winning plays.”

While at Villanova, Brunson was tabbed National Player of the Year in 2017-18, but all that is forgotten now on both sides.

“I love Mikal, but he’s the enemy right now,” Brunson said of Bridges, Landon Thomas tweeted.