Bradley has Career Game in Loss to the T-Wolves

Credit: celticshub.com

Although Boston lost to Minnesota tonight, they got massive production from shooting guard Avery Bradley. In his career, Bradley is a bad 3-point shooter has a streaky mid-range jump-shot. But during tonight's game in Minnesota, Bradley's shot was definitely on and he was aggressive in getting to his spots, unlike Jeff Green, who is unstoppable when he's aggressive but disappears when he's passive. (future post).

With a career-high 27 points, the defensive specialist Bradley carried the load offensively for the green. Bradley had 27 points, Brandon Bass had 15 points, Jordan Crawford had 10, and no other Celtic had double-digit scoring. But there was a Marshon Brooks sighting! He got his first legitimate minutes of the season and he made a very good first impression with 8 points in 17 minutes. It's still a mystery why coach Stevens hadn't played Brooks earlier. 

Most of Avery Bradley's points during the Minnesota game came from the top of the key, right inside the three point arc; that's definitely where he likes to get his shots off. Bradley often defers from the straight away three pointer from the top to taking a step in and draining the long jump shot for two. Sometimes, it seems like Avery forces it with this play, but he's shooting around 45% from the field so he has absolutely earned the green light from mid range. This is Avery Bradley's shot chart from CSNNE.com:

As you can see, Avery got most of his points from in the paint, but what isn't displayed on this shot chart is the MISSED bunnies from 5-10 feet out. Bradley missed about 4 or 5 layups that would have upped his points to at least 35! Bradley's offensive game is evidently very raw, and he needs to work on his three-point shot and touch around the rim. Bradley's strong suit in his game is definitely his world-class defense, smart off the ball cutting, and mid-range jump shot that continues to fall this season. 

On the Timberwolves side of the game, if I had to pick one play to sum up how they beat us, it would be the play in which Ricky Rubio tricked Marshon Brooks into falling into the cheeky fake. Rubio got the easy layup in transition. After he sold the fake, as Rubio was gliding to the bucket, you could see him laughing at himself. He knew he just pissed on Marshon Brooks' face! He knew he took a shit on Brooks with the fake. And he couldn't contain his laughter.