How the Celtos Got Their Groove Back
Editor's Note: This was sent to me a week ago, when the fate of the Celtics was considerably brighter than it is now. However, as hope springs eternal, I'm posting it anyway.
AVERY BRADLEY.
Much can be said about the beginning of Boston’s season. They were mired in mediocrity, ending up 3 games under .500 on New Year’s day. On paper, this team looked great. The same old hats were around (minus Ray Ray, who still looks terrible wearing a Heat jersey), including Rondo, Pierce and KG, and a few awesome additions. Jason Terry, an excellent 6th man who kills it in big moments; Courtney Lee, a terrific on-ball defender who could shut down the other team’s best guard; Jaded Sullinger, who is Big Baby 2.0, albeit seriously lacking awesome dance moves and hilarious internet videos; Leandro Barbosa, who is probably one of the fastest people on the court. Those are just a few of the new faces that were supposed to mesh with the old faces and lead to a team that was STACKED and would hang with the likes of Miami. But that shit didn’t happen. Instead, they were sleepwalking through games. They were blowing big leads, allowing other teams to score tons of points and generally getting pushed around by so many others. The Celtics of old were NOT pushed around. They pushed you and then talked shit about it. What was going on?? Enter one Avery Bradley and the season immediately turned around (although he has a new injury issue and, SURPRISE, the Celtics have lost all the games he has been out for). This dude lives and breathes hustle. Every play, he is running his ass off. On D, he takes the other team’s best guard OUT. Each play it is full court press, standing his ground and moving his feet and causing so much frustration. He RUNS back every play to get to his spot on D. He sneaks into the backdoor for Rondo to find him on O and has been nailing the corner 3 with ease. It has been beautiful to watch. And his passion and hustle has rubbed off on EVERYONE. Now the C’s are getting back on D. Now they are shutting teams down, holding the opposition to 70-80 points. A perfect game that epitomizes Bradley and the old look Celtics was against the Knicks in MSG. They were hustling their asses off. They held Carmelo to 2 points in the paint where he had been averaging over 16. They harassed and talked shit to Spike Lee and played with swagger. And it all started with Bradley the young buck. He tortured J.R. Smith, who is turning into a crazy good scorer, and left Smith with a hell of a cut on his eye. Watching everyone hustle and hit big shots and generally play hard ass D made me feel that there was hope for the Celtics again. Let’s hope for a speedy recovery on his hip and a glimpse into the hope and some more excitement entering the 2nd half of the season. Avery Bradley is my favorite Celtic of the new era.
Henry Powell appreciates winter squash and Brian Scalabrine.