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(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Though Avery Bradley gives up five inches when he guards the Bulls’ Jimmy Butler, the Celtics guard doesn’t see the difference.
“Size doesn’t matter. It’s heart,” Bradley said following yesterday’s practice at Roosevelt University.
In Friday’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series, Chicago increasingly turned to Butler to run the offense in the absence of Rajon Rondo (broken thumb), and going forward that means Bradley will apply even more on-ball pressure. Bradley had a strong hand in Butler’s 7-for-21 shooting (0-for-4 on 3-pointers) to go with zero assists in the C’s win that made it a 2-1 series in the Bulls’ favor.
“I’m just trying to make every shot tough on him — he’s a good player and I just want to speed him up a bit and force him into some tough shots,” Bradley said.
“Avery was amazing,” Celtics center Al Horford said.
Swingman Gerald Green put it like this: “I’ve been in the league 12 years, I’ve played overseas, I’ve played in the D-League. He might be the best defender I’ve ever had (on my team), probably besides Tony Allen. He has the instincts and he knows how to read (plays).
“I could throw Avery on anyone. Doesn’t matter who it is.”
An NBA scout who watched Game 3 agreed, calling Bradley “long and incredibly strong.”
“What makes him so good is how well he moves his feet and how he hawks the ball,” the scout said. “He is relentless.”
It’s hard to guard Jimmy Butler 1-on-1. Everyone knows he’s going to score at some point no matter who you have on him. He blew by Bradley a few times in Game 3 and shot over the top of him a few times in much more successful Games 1 and 2. But Bradley does a pretty good job of forcing Butler into some tough step-back fall-away shots and he can deny Butler the ball pretty effectively. Obviously the best way to keep Butler from scoring is to not even let him catch the ball… but that’s not always going to be possible.
“If I’ve got open shots, I’ve got to take them,” Butler said of 14 of his 21 field-goal attempts Friday being jumpers. “You wouldn’t say anything if I was making them. It’s not the fact I didn’t get to the line. I still did all right. I’ll continue to take what the game gives me, take jumpers if I’m open.”
Bradley, with a little back-up from Al Horford and friends, need to keep Butler from getting all the way to the rim if they’re going to turn this series around. Without Rajon Rondo setting everyone up, it’s going to be on Butler to carry this Bulls team offensively. He can do it by getting to the line a ton and getting 3-point plays.
But Bradley’s active feet can keep him in front of Butler better than most. If Butler settles from a bunch of mid-range fadeaways like this…
…then Bradley will have done his job very well. Butler shot 39.7% this season on fadeaways and 38.4% on mid-range shots. He’s 8-22 (36.4%) from the mid-range in this series and 4-8 on fadeaways. This is the exact shot we want Butler taking.
Bradley’s quickness is the best weapon against keeping Butler out of the paint. If Butler wants to fall into the trap of fading away and shooting over the top of Bradley, then he can go for it. All Avery needs to do is stay in front of him… and there are few people in the league who can do that as well as Bradley.
Page 2: Gerald Green is always kind of crunk
“I was just trying to bring energy. I think that was most important,” Green said. “I feel like my energy was there early on in the game. So that’s what I’m going to try to do [in Sunday’s Game 4]: just try to come out with a lot of energy and just try to play up-tempo basketball, try to just bring it on both ends.”
The excitable Green admitted it doesn’t take much to get him going.
“I kind of like being geeked up. I think that’s the type of personality I have anyway. I’m always animated; I’m always kind of crunk,” Green said. “I gotta bring that energy. I don’t want to be less geeked than I was. Obviously, I don’t want to be too emotional. I just kind of want to use my energy on the court so I can just be able to be effective on both ends of the floor.”
Let’s just pause a moment to appreciate the grind of Gerald Green’s career. Here’s how it looks on his Wikipedia page:
This man has been around the damn world. I couldn’t believe it when the Celtics signed him. I was floored when Brad Stevens decided to start him. And here is… being an effective part of the Celtics offense.
I have to give it up to Mr. Always Crunk… the dude could have given up a long time ago but here he is… still fighting for his chances.
