What's useful for some is problematic for others, and Avery Bradley certainly falls into that category. The rejuvenated second-year guard has been playing the best offensive basketball of his career over the Boston Celtics' last six games, during which he has spent most of the games as a starter in place of an injured Ray Allen.
Bradley was sent back to the bench for Wednesday's game against the San Antonio Spurs -- which the Celtics' lost 87-86 -- but that didn't stop Bradley from having a great game on both sides of the ball. Bradley finished with a team-leading 19 points and played lockdown defense, as usual, which was very bothersome to San Antonio.
"He's a pain in the ass," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. "I mean, the game starts and you know what he's going to do. He's going to cut from the corner to the bucket and lay it in. He's going to cut diagonally from the top. You know it and you go play, I think he was the leading scorer. I didn't check the stat closely, but somebody yelled that to me. You've got to give him credit. He knows his role and he does it very, very well. He killed us all night long."
That's pretty strong praise from Coach Pop, who is the longest tenured coach in all four of the major sports leagues (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB). Bradley's offense has seemingly come out of nowhere, at least for fans and media. Doc Rivers has been consistent in saying that Bradley can shoot well, as he does in practice, and he's now finding his comfort level in big time games.
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