Bradley finished 8-14 with 19 points, his second-highest point total of the season.
The Boston Celtics, coach Doc Rivers said, had run their opening play for Avery Bradley during each of the past five games. Maybe this was true, but the strategy hadn’t worked well.
The New York game started with a Brandon Bass post-up. Two games before that, Boston began against Cleveland with Bradley feeding Paul Pierce in the corner for an isolation. In both of those contests, Bradley struggled. Entering Monday night, he hadn't hit 50 percent of his shots in a single game since March 10, a time frame that spanned 11 games. Against Atlanta last week, Bradley hit two free throws after drawing a foul on the opening possession. He finished with just eight points on 3-7 shooting.
But the Celtics went to Bradley early again Monday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On the opening possession, the guard released a jumper from the left elbow when Ricky Rubio got stuck behind a Chris Wilcox screen.
“I just really believe he needed it to go in, that shot,” Rivers said.
The ball finally fell through the hoop, and then it kept falling. Pretty soon Bradley had eight points in the first quarter. Then he hit his first shot of the second period to reach double figures for the first time in nine games. Then a 3-pointer from the corner off a nice pass from Jordan Crawford. And a jumper off the dribble from the left wing, with Alexey Shved contesting the shot like it was Ray Allen’s. Bradley had 15 points by halftime on 6-9 shooting. He finished 8-14 with 19 points, his second-highest point total of the season.
Color commentator Tommy Heinsohn continually calls the midrange jumper “Bradley’s shot,” which is actually not entirely true. According to NBA.com, Bradley is shooting 42.0 percent from midrange this season. That's better than the league average and a few ticks better than he’s shooting elsewhere. But midrange jumpers only count as two points and generally don’t result in free throw opportunities, so shooting 42.0 percent from there generally results in fewer points than hitting the same clip from anywhere else on the court.
But Monday night Bradley was terrific from midrange. He hit six of his eight jump shots from inside the arc, missing only his first attempt of the second half and a contested, fadeaway 12-footer he forced in an attempt to beat the shot clock. He shot just 1-5 from 3-point range, but two of his misses rimmed out. Another came just before halftime, on a heave from behind half court.
“I told him after the game, his arc was back on his shot, it wasn't flat. So that was good to see,” Rivers said.
Bradley’s capable of shooting well. He did it in the latter half of last season. His role is different now, though, running the offense, creating a lot of shots for himself rather than playing off Rajon Rondo. Seeing the ball go through the hoop must have felt nice. Next, he needs to conjure that feeling on a more routine basis.