BOSTON – When you look at Avery Bradley’s growth this season, seeing the tremendous strides he has made offensively is clear.
But at the heart of Bradley’s game remains a desire to dominate a matchup as a defender, something that was alive and well on Monday as he made his return to the floor after missing the four previous games with an Achilles strain.
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Bradley’s defense would prove instrumental in Boston’s 108-98 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday.
He was 2-for-9 from the field and played nearly 33 minutes against Hornets, which is just a couple minutes under his season average of court time.
Usually he’s responsible for providing a boost at both ends of the floor.
Boston Celtics
But considering his long lay-off, it was clear early on that he was locked in defensively more so than looking to get back on track shooting the ball.
“You take any type of games off in this league, your rhythm and all that you gotta get it back,” said Boston’s Jae Crowder.
Even though his shots weren’t falling, Bradley was on top of his game defensively while guarding 6-foot-8 Nicolas Batum who is six inches taller but never was a factor on Monday.
Batum finished with eight points on 2-for-11 shooting from the field.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens liked what he got out of Bradley in his return to action.
“I thought he (Bradley) was great,” Stevens told CSNNE.com. “He did everything we needed him to do. We knew there would be a little bit of rust (shooting the ball), but that’s part of you playing your way back into it.”
As far as Bradley’s stifling defense on Batum, Stevens said, “You have to do that against Batum. I thought Avery did a really good job of that. It’s a hard matchup no matter what way you go. Batum, giving up inches to him. He (Bradley) was there on the catch all night.”
And as Bradley gradually gets back into a flow, he’ll regain the form offensively that made him one of the NBA’s better two-way players this season.