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Standing against a back wall of the locker room, Avery Bradley called for assistance. Barely able to bend his leg, he had just limped across the floor. He waved a Boston Celtics staffer over to his side and sat down in a chair.

“I need your help,” Bradley said.

In the wake of a regrettable, 102-101 Game 1 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, this wasn’t what the Celtics needed: their starting shooting guard, such a key two-way player, requiring another man to pull socks over his feet. Bradley later said he hopes to play in Game 2, but, judging by the way he hobbled after straining his right hamstring, could need a lengthy session with Mr. Miyagi — or at least an incredible turnaround — to recover in time for Tuesday’s tip-off.

MassLive: Avery Bradley’s injury looks threatening

Bradley, playfully dubbed Mr. Optimism in this space because of his unfailingly rosy outlook, suggested he’d like to be back on the court for Tuesday’s Game 2. Given the way he has bounced back from past injuries, you can’t put it past him. But his limp, an impending MRI, and the obvious concern of his teammates suggested a more dire outlook for both Bradley and the Celtics, who must dig themselves out of a 1-0 hole in the best-of-seven series after a 102-101 loss at Philips Arena.

ESPN Boston: Celtics bracing for life without Bradley

“I just want to try and get treatment and hopefully I can be back by next game,” Bradley said. “I’ll get treatment tonight, get treatment all night. My main focus is getting right for next game.”

But that appears doubtful, especially after the conversation Celtics head coach Brad Stevens had with Bradley after the injury.

“He’s very, very sore, “Stevens said. “And he said on the court that he heard a pop. I don’t know if that is something … he got hit or what. So we’ll see.”

CSNNE: Bradley focused on getting ready for Game 2

Well… this is no good.

Sure, something miraculous can happen… but let’s be real here. No one goes from needing help to put on socks to starting an NBA playoff game two days later.

So now what?

The biggest problem this poses for Boston is limited flexibility in adjusting to the Hawks. A Bradley, Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart perimeter small-ball lineup is no longer an option.

Marcus Smart is the most obvious candidate to replace Bradley because of his defensive ability… and let’s face it, the Celtics really need to ramp up their defense considering what Atlanta did in the first half. The second half was much better but the C’s can’t let Kent freakin’ Bazemore go off for 20-something again. I’m getting really tired of him coming up big against Boston. We’ll need Smart to come in and provide the energy defensively that could lead to more transition opportunities.

Really, that’s how the Celtics are going to have a chance in this series. They’re going to have to get a lot more stops and get a lot more chances pushing the pace against one of the best defenses in the league. If the Celtics go half court vs. half court, we’ll see more of what we saw in the first half. But if Smart can come in and do what Bradley did in the second half, then we’ll see a good game.

On the positive side, this injury is actually affecting someone who fills a very specific role on the team. Avery Bradley is one of the few players on this team who doesn’t have a wide-ranging impact on everyone else. For example, the Jae Crowder injury was really tough because Crowder is asked to guard multiple positions. His versatility is necessary to the success of the team.

The domino effect from the Bradley injury isn’t as bad, though. I don’t want to minimize the impact of losing a guy regarded as the best perimeter defender in the league, but Marcus Smart is a pretty damn good perimeter defender too. And then the Celtics can slide Terry Rozier into Smart’s spot and have a guy who is just as athletic and has the potential to defend pretty well too. Plus… Rozier is a better shooter than Smart, so the potential exists that Rozier can contribute to the offense on the second unit and fill in for Smart pretty nicely.

The key here, obviously, is for Rozier to not be overwhelmed by the moment, which is no guarantee. The worst-case scenario isn’t great, and it involves a lot of people trying to fill that role off the bench. But the best-case scenario isn’t far-fetched: Marcus Smart slides into Bradley’s role, plays pit bull defense and sparks transition basketball that leads to some easy baskets…. then Terry Rozier slides into Smarts role, spots up, maybe hits a shot or two or drives and draws a couple of fouls, and defends his man well enough for the C’s to hold tight in time for Smart to get back into the game.

We’ll see what Rozier can do. Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Related links: Globe: Bradley injured as Celtics drop game 1 | Bradley injures hamstring  |  CSNNE: Rozier will have to step up if Bradley’s out  |  Mannix: looks like a nasty hamstring injury  |  ESPN Boston: Bradley set for more tests on hamstring  |  WEEI: Bradley heard a pop in hamstring  |  MassLive: Bradley hears a pop, scheduled for MRI  |  Herald: Bradley hears a pop in opener

Page 2: No one is worried about the shooting

“I’d have to re-watch it, but I can’t remember off the top of my head five 3’s that weren’t open, extra pass, inside-out 3’s,” said Brad Stevens after the 102-101 defeat. “So I feel pretty good about those. Obviously you feel a lot better when they go down. And, again, that’s what was available. I thought our guys did a great job of driving and spraying it out and finding other guys, because they really converge and make it difficult at the rim — especially (Paul) Millsap and (Al) Horford.

[…] “At that point, I felt like we needed to make it into halftime, because it was going not the way we wanted it to,” said Jae Crowder, who was 1-10 (0-5 on 3’s) at the half. “We needed to just sit back and take a deep breath and realize that the shots are going to be there. We’ve just got to step into them, and once we did that, the game slowed up for us a little bit on the offensive end, we got a few stops and we were able to get on a run and do what we do.

“I mean, we talked to one another and told each other to just keep taking them. We’re not going to shy away from it. It was a tough first half for us. We missed a lot of shots that we usually hit.”

Herald: Simple explanation: Celtics need to improve on first-half brickfest

My take on shooting last night was…

Celtics miss a ton of jumpers.. “GET TO THE BASKET!”
Celtics miss a ton of layups… ¯_(ツ)_/¯

— John Karalis (@RedsArmy_John) April 16, 2016

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Yes, the Celtics did settle for a lot of jumpers in the first half. Atlanta also forced them to settle for those jumpers. As Brad Stevens said, Horford and Millsap were making life miserable at the rim.

As I just said, the Celtics were at their best in the second half when they got out in transition. That means getting stops and running and not letting Atlanta set their defense. All season long, the Celtics best offense has come off of stops and chaos. They thrive in that space… the shooters shoot better when the team is running.

It’s no secret that the Celtics best offense comes when their defense is playing well. The jumpers will fall when the team is out and running and everyone is getting in rhythm. They won’t if the team is standing around trying to penetrate the best defense in the league in the 2016 calendar year. It’s as simple as that.

Related links: Globe: Early wakeup call needed for Game 2

And Finally…

Let’s take a moment to marvel at Toronto’s inability to win playoff games, and how Dwane Casey can possibly go from Coach of the Year candidate to on the firing line. Why?

What was going on with those rotations?

There was the obvious problem that we’ve all seen coming, with Luis Scola staying with that starting lineup. But it was not the biggest problem in this game.

That award goes to the all-bench unit Casey trotted out in the first half. Lowry and DeRozan racked up heavy minutes for 82 games because Casey smartly wouldn’t take both off the floor at once, creating two of the most potent lineups in the league in the Lowry-plus-bench and DeRozan-plus-bench lineups. Those two lineups posted net ratings of +16 and +14 points per 100 possessions for the season. We saw 4 minutes of the Lowry-plus-bench lineup and none of the DeMar-plus-bench lineup at all.

Instead we got to see this lineup:

Cory Joseph – Terrence Ross – DeMarre Carroll – Patrick Patterson – Bismack Biyombo

We saw that lineup for 5 full minutes, the second most used lineup on the night behind the starters.

This just makes me wish Boston had fallen to the 7th seed.

The rest of the links:

Globe: There are reasons for hope after this loss  |  Curry hurts ankle in Warriors rout  |  CSNNE: Celtics can’t come back every time  |  ESPN Boston: Hawks playoff experience shines brightly  |  WEEI: Bradley on Celtics big holes: “we have to get out of that pattern”  |  Herald: After slow start, Celtics come alive but fall shy  |  2 man game saves Hawks  |  No travel violation here