Mikal Bridges responded quickly, positively and emphatically as the Knicks boat took on the undermanned Pelicans at MSG.

Bridges, who has faced increasing criticism for his struggles early in the season, dropped 13 of his season-high 31 points in the first quarter of Sunday’s 118-85 loss to New Orleans, a win that gave the Knicks a double-digit lead in their last 43 games minutes included.

Bridges started aggressively and the defense took care of the rest.

The Knicks (12-8), who have won six of their last 8, held the Pelicans to just 28 points in the first half, the fewest for a New York opponent since November 2001 against the Warriors, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The terrible Pelicans had no answer without the injured trio of Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones.

They shot just 38 percent overall and an abysmal 14.8 percent on treys, with Dejounte Murray the face of misery despite missing 12 of his 17 attempts.

It was the second game in a row in which the Knicks faced a weakened team – and the third game in a row that their opponent was missing their best player.

This time the Knicks had a blast.

Bridges was nimble and aggressive two days after Tom Thibodeau benched the guard in the fourth quarter of a narrow win in Charlotte.

Bridges hit 7 of 12 from 3-point range on Sunday – and shot 12 of 19 from the field overall – for his best performance since being acquired from Brooklyn for five first-round picks.

After Friday’s game, teammate Josh Hart assured Bridges would recover and said the team would make it a priority to get Bridges back up to speed.

Then Bridges took seven shots in the first 10 minutes and left the game for extended garbage time in the fourth quarter to a rousing MSG ovation.

His performance gave Jalen Brunson (16 points on 11 shots), Karl-Anthony Towns (14 points, 19 boards) and Hart (12 points, six rebounds) easy off nights.