Bradley benched at the end of the game? He's good with it

Last night between the third and fourth quarters, I found myself asking, "where is Avery Bradley?" at little more than I would have liked. With Derrick Rose going down with another injury and announcing yesterday that he will miss the remainder of the 2013-14 season, I obviously figured I somehow missed a sidelining injury to our shooting guard.

AB missed the majority of the second half of the game for the best possible reason- the Celtics bench was crushing it and there wasn't an immediate need for him to return.

“(A 9-0 early-fourth-quarter run) was really big,” said Stevens. “And again, it was the bench. I thought I might leave them in the whole rest of the time. I told the team afterwards that Avery Bradley didn’t play the last 22 minutes of the game, but his legs are getting stiff and everybody else is warm, so you just kind of go with the guys that are hot right now because he’s in foul trouble.

“I told him every great organization I’ve ever studied acted like that, and was happy about that. He was great. In fact, I went in and told him with about two minutes to go to be ready, especially if it became a free throw shooting game. And he said either way, if these guys finish it I’m good with that. That’s good.”

After picking up his fourth foul with nearly an entire half of basketball to go, Brad Stevens put Phil Pressey, Courtney Lee, and Gerald Wallace into heavy rotation. The bench trio combined 22 minutes in the fourth quarter and each chipped in with impressive lines; Pressey had 8 assists, Lee had 11 points in 12 minutes of play, and Wallace added 17 points in 35 minutes on the floor.

While I don't think I need to tell anyone that Bradley's role on the Celtics isn't in danger, it should be reassuring that we have the assets on this team that are ready to perform when called upon.
Source: Jay King; MassLive.com