Bradley's full-court defense sets tone for Celtics

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BOSTON -- Avery Bradley made a decision before the game.

It wasnt asked of him by the Boston Celtics coaches, but he committed himself to the task.

Bradley, getting the start in place of Rajon Rondo (sprained right wrist), was going to play full-court defense on Orlando Magic point guard Jameer Nelsonthe entire night.

I told Doc Im going to pick him up the whole game, Bradley said following the Celtics 87-56 win. He kind of looked at me like, The whole game? And I looked back like, Yeah, the whole game. So thats what I did.

Bradley locked in on defense and frustrated Nelson, who finished the game with five points (2-5 FG), three assists, and a game-high five turnovers. Nelson entered the contest averaging 8.9 points, 5.6 assists, and 2.6 turnovers.

Hes a young guy with a lot of energy, Nelson offered.

While Nelson was short with praise, Bradleys teammates had plenty for the 21-year-old. In his third start of the season, Bradley scored six points (2-7 FG), four rebounds, and three assists in 29 minutes. More significantly, he was the only Celtics starter without a turnover.

I think it really started at the top with Avery Bradley tonight, said Paul Pierce. He was very infectious on the rest of us with his ball pressure all night long. Hes just getting better and better with more the experience that hes getting and hes starting to understand what his role is.He did it from the top defensively and that really caused a lot of problems for Orlando giving it to their offense tonight.

Said Kevin Garnett, His pressure throughout the game was consistent. He never let off the gas, as we say, and kept turning him and keeping him on his toes. Its very, very hard to do in this league against a player like Jameer Nelson.

Bradley was instructed by the Celtics coaches to play hard on defense. When the buzzer sounded, he had fulfilled his assignment -- and even beyond that. Rivers credited Bradley for not only setting a tone with ball pressure, but also for getting the offense going earlier into the shot clock.

I just came out tonight and I wanted to get everybody elses energy up, said Bradley. I felt like I did playing defense like that. Paul came up and told me, When you play defense like that it makes us play defense even harder. Thats all I try to do, I try to help in anyway I can.

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