“He’s having surgery today, so he’s out for the playoffs,” Rivers acknowledged.  ”It’s disappointing. Obviously, when a player goes down it’s disappointing, especially on what Avery has given us this year. His growth this year has been terrific. It’s been great. He’s become a very valuable piece to our basketball team.”

With Bradley out in the interim, Rivers talked about the chain effect missing his guard will have on his team’s lineup, especially against Philadelphia in particular.

“His ability to guard the best guard at the 1 or 2 has really taken so much pressure off [Rajon] Rondo in particular,” Rivers explained. “Without him, Rondo has to go back to that role and run the team, and that’s hard. That’s hard to do, especially against the team we are playing, who has two guards that attack. Rondo doesn’t have a lot of breaks [now]. That’s the way it is.”

Despite it all, Rivers is offering no excuses for this team heading into Game 7 tomorrow, who are dealing with their fourth season-ending injury of the season.

“We’ve been a team all year, stuff happens, you deal with it and you just move forward,” Rivers said. “That’s who we’ve been, and that’s who we need to be tomorrow.”

CH’s Take: The only new news out of the story is the fact Bradley is undergoing surgery so soon, which again signals just how severe the shoulder injury had become for Avery. For now though, the onus stay on Rondo, Ray Allen, Mickael Pietrus and Keyon Dooling (who is missing practice today home sick) to contain Philadelphia’s explosive backcourt. Doc made adjustments in pick and roll coverage in Game 3 which helped a lot, but the Sixers have countered, bringing themselves back to tie the series at three games a piece.

I guess my biggest question here is whether Doc will go deeper into his bench for Game 7 to look for a defensive spark, if his regular rotation aren’t able to contain Holiday, Williams, and Turner themselves. We saw a couple minutes of Marquis Daniels in Game 6, and both he and Sasha Pavlovic are big and able defenders on the bench who should be able to guard the likes of Evan Turner while out there. On his home floor, especially if Keyon is not at full strength, I’m curious to see whether Daniels (the most likely candidate) gets another shot. Either way though, Allen, Rondo and company are going to have to do a better job  than they did in Game 6 of keeping Holiday and Williams out of the paint.

“It came out. It went right back in, which is crazy,” Rivers said. “It’s a tough thing, what he’s going through. A lot of players would not be playing.”

Doc also acknowledged that due to the injury, Bradley’s postseason play had been rollercoaster ride production wise, although his defensive value has continued to shine through, as evidenced by the Game 4 comeback Philadelphia mounted with Bradley in foul trouble in the third quarter during Game 4.

“He’s been up and down. Defensively, he’s been very effective, but offensively, he’s been on and off. The Sixers are absolutely making him score,” Rivers said. “They are leaving him, they are sagging the paint. They understand what’s going on with his shoulder too, and their thought is, if guy’s got a bad shoulder, he’s got to make shots, he’s got to finish in the paint.  I think that’s the one thing we see with his shoulder, he doesn’t want to drive as much. You don’t see him in the paint as much. Because that’s the two or three times that (the shoulder has) gone out, when he’s taken the hit. And you don’t blame him. But we do need to try to get him cutting again.”

With Rivers wanting to get him more active, he also made clear it’s a fine line for Bradley to walk to continue to be out there with the injury, something Doc admires:

“It’s his first playoffs and he’s dealing with stuff. It’s just tough. It really is,” explained Rivers. “I swear, a lot of people would not be playing and the only reason that he is is because he wants to. But I am concerned at some point that he may not be able to any more. We don’t know what game that is, we don’t know if he can finish it , we could go all the way and he could play. Or tomorrow could be his last game. You really don’t know.”

In a series where Bradley is just averaging six points per game, on 36 percent shooting, including 25 percent from downtown, the team could use more offensively from their starting shooting guard. Whether he has the means to give it to them is a whole other question. Either way, keeping Avery on the floor looks to be the best move against Philadelphia’s crafty backcourt as the series pushes deeper.

Via Peter May at ESPNBoston:

All 15 players participated in the Boston Celtics’ morning shootaround before Game 2 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Philadelphia 76ers, according to a team official. 

That would suggest that, like Game 1, the Celtics should have everyone available. Paul Pierce (left MCL sprain), Ray Allen (bone spurs in right ankle), Avery Bradley (sore left rotator cuff), and Mickael Pietrus (swelling in right knee) are among the ailing on the Boston roster at the moment.

 Rich will be hosting a show from 5-7pm this Sunday evening and I’ll be joining him for part of the first hour to break down Game 1 and the remainder of the Celtics-Sixers series. We will be taking calls as well, so we encourage you CelticsHub readers to call and chat with us.

You can dial Rich up at 617-779-0985 and can listen in online by clicking  HERE