CHARLOTTE -- Last year was the first time since Avery Bradley has been in the NBA that he had a playoff-free summer . . . and he hated it.
“Anybody that’s competitive and loves the game of basketball, you want to play at the highest level,” Bradley told CSNNE.com prior to Monday’s game against Charlotte. “And the highest level in the NBA is the playoffs to me. That’s how basketball is supposed to be played.”
And it is that drive, that desire to not have a repeat of last summer, that fuels Bradley’s focus to do whatever he can to get the Celtics back in the postseason after a one-year absence.
He certainly did his part on Monday night as Boston took control in the first half and never fully let go as the Celtics came away with a 116-104 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Bradley led all scorers with 30 points on an efficient 12-for-23 shooting from the field.
“He definitely played great,” said Boston’s Evan Turner. “I knew he was ready once he hit his first shot and after that they couldn’t really contain him. He hit some big shots. I think the team did a great job of finding him.”
Bradley did his part in making himself available, whether it was moving off down-screens for catch-and-shoots at the elbow, or scurrying along the baseline to get open in just enough time for a Turner pass into the paint for a lay-up.
Boston Celtics
Bradley was easily the biggest high impact performer for Boston on a night when they truly needed someone to step up and lead them to victory.
“I got in a good rhythm and my teammates were finding me,” Bradley told the assembled media after the game. “They had confidence in me. They kept telling me to shoot the ball. Tonight it was just my night.”
Boston will need a few more nights like that from Bradley who remains focused on doing whatever he can to put off summer vacation for as long as possible.
“It was crazy,” he told CSNNE.com. “My summer started so early (last year). It was weird for a lot of us.”
Bradley said him and some of his former Celtics teammates would have a good laugh in the past about friends and teams who didn’t get to the postseason.
“When we used to go to the playoffs, we’d make jokes about other teams that weren’t (going to the playoffs),” Bradley said. “Like, 'you sent your car home already (for the summer)?' Now people were telling us jokes like that last year. We were the team trying to play hard at the end of the year to show that we were better than they thought. But it was too late.
Bradley added, “I don’t want to go through that again.”
And he did his part on Monday not only in terms of scoring but also defensively.
“That has to be our identity,” Bradley said. “That’s how you win games on a consistent basis by being able to get stops.”
Now only does it win ball games, but also delays that summer vacay which for Bradley and the Celtics is definitely a good thing.