it hasn't been Bradley, it's been the entire team coming together and beginning to understand the defense, trust each other, and give a full effort. Washburn's articles have documented this quite well recently. I'm glad Bradley's back, but he has struggled so far, as expected considering all the time he missed. He looks mediocre at the moment.
Give credit where it's due, to the celtics players finally beginning to trust in Doc and the defensive system.
so, the past 2 years its just been a "coincidence" that when bradley starts we play better defense?
sure hes struggled offensively. but I havent seen anything defensively to show me hes struggling there.
you keep trying to create some image of Bradley that doesn't reflect reality. If you really want to believe that, good for you, but it there are 9 new players on this team from last year's team. You cannot compare the two teams, and you have to realize it takes a lot to get so many players to learn a complex defensive system and trust in each other and their coach. Give Doc and the players credit.
So I guess that Doc AND the players see it differently than you do (watch any interview after these games). Yes, it's a team effort, not one player can/should be given all the credit but Avery is a HUGE key in what makes the team better defensively... what he does has a trickle down effect. How many new players do the NYK and ATL have this season... can't remember how many new players the NYK have but it's quite a few, the Hawks have NINE new players, funny how they manage to play well this season and gel as a team. You keep fooling yourself into believing AB isn't a catalyst for the improved defense and I will just keep listening to Doc and the players! Doc said he told RR and AB last night that they can be the best 2 guards on defense and that they should go out there and prove it (something along those lines), AB and RR came out and shut Teague and Williams down, they pressured the ball non-stop, that in turn caused everyone else to step their games up! How many times does PP and the guys have to say that AB is the best on ball defender and that his effort is so great that it gives a boost to everyone else? So you're going to really use AB's first game back after not playing for months to say that he isn't a big reason the team's D has gone from nonexistent to one of the best? Really? Okay, I tell you what if our D doesn't continue to be improved from the first 30 games, with AB, then I will come in here and say, "you were right, AB was not the biggest reason for the turnaround". I'm not talking wins or loses but just the defense (but with better defense more wins should come... not all wins but more for sure). 30 games is the magic number for new guys to come together, nope, it's not Bradley... the other people on the team are just crazy...
It wasn't one game that the other guys had some type of epiphany and figured out the defense all of a sudden... if it is the case then it sure is weird that it took them until AB came back. Oh and also, AB's first game back, the problem wasn't defense, the problem was offense, we couldn't hit the ocean if our life depended on it!