Joe Camporeale – USA Today Sports Images
The Boston Celtics have needed two tremendous defensive efforts in games four and five to force their series with the New York Knicks to go to a game six on Friday night. The Celtics looked rather futile through the first three games of the series, but switched things up in the last two games.
Boston has improved on both ends of the floor, getting their offense into more of a rhythm in games four and five than it was early in the series and tightening their defense on the Knicks key players like Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith. It’s like they finally realized that they were in the NBA Playoffs and not just coasting through the regular season anymore.
However, on key player for Boston that hasn’t turned it on and, in fact, has been awful in this series is their point guard, Avery Bradley. Through the first five games of the series, Bradley is averaging just six points, 1.4 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game on just 36.1 percent shooting from the field and only 25 percent shooting from long range. He’s been wildly ineffective on offense.
The worst part about Bradley’s play, though, is how he’s performed defensively. Despite being young, Bradley has garnered the reputation as one of the better perimeter defenders in the league. However, he’s been continually beaten by Raymond Felton against the Knicks, despite the fact that he has stopped players better than Felton on a regular basis over his short career. He’s just been completely out-of-sync.
If the Celtics want to get a win in game six and have a chance to be the first team in NBA history to come back from being down 3-0, they are going to have to get more from Bradley on both ends of the floor. He is going to have to contain Felton more effectively and keep him out of the lane defensively and knock down open shots on offense. If that doesn’t happen, Boston is likely going to fall short in their comeback try.
Cody Williams is a Senior NBA Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20 and like his Facebook page.
