Avery Bradley Likely Out for Remainder of the Postseason

By: Stephen Patterson

The Boston Celtics' championship aspirations took a big blow today when team president of basketball operations Danny Ainge announced that Avery Bradley would need to undergo surgery on his injured left shoulder and would most likely miss the remainder of the Celtics' playoff run.

This is tough news for Boston fans, as Bradley has really emerged in the postseason as a solid defender and shown he is capable of filling in for Ray Allen in the starting line-up while Allen was injured late in the regular season.

The Celtics are heading into a must-win Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night at TD Garden. Although the game is at home, the loss of Bradley is going to make it exponentially harder for Boston to pick up the victory and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

While Bradley hasn't provided the Celtics with a ton of scoring (he was averaging just 6.0 points per game through the first four games of the series), he was providing the team with a solid defender capable of slowing down Philadelphia's talented backcourt trio of Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, and Lou Williams.

According to ESPN.com, Bradley suffered multiple dislocations of his left shoulder during the 2011-12 season, including three times in the postseason. The last dislocation in Game 4's Boston loss resulted in the team's medical staff telling him it was too risky to continue playing without risking further injury to it.

With Ray Allen struggling thus far in the playoffs, averaging only 9.8 points per game in just under 30 minutes per contest, the Celtics might find themselves in deep trouble on Saturday if he can't hit shots consistently from the field. Without Bradley, Boston will have to continue to rely very heavily on Mickael Pietrus off the bench.

In the past two games, Pietrus has logged a total of 55 minutes off the bench, including a whopping 35 in Boston's Game 6 loss. Allen has played 59 minutes during the same span.

The only thing working in Boston's favor as Game 7 approaches is the fact they will be playing on a decent amount of rest compared to the rushed feel of the regular season and the start of the playoffs.

However, the Celtics will still need an extraordinary performance from it's Big 4 (this includes Rajon Rondo because I refuse to call them the Big 3 and leave out the team's best young talent) if they want to eliminate the surprising 76ers and keep their title hopes alive.

My Game 7 Pick: Philadelphia scores the upset over Boston by less than five points behind a monster effort from Andre Iguodala to advance to the Eastern Conference finals