Maybe the Celtics needed a loss like Friday's 84-79 defeat to the lowly Raptors to remind them that the most accomplished 3-point shooter in NBA history is still a pretty valuable commodity, because his absence shone brightly in Toronto.
The Celtics had plenty of opportunities to cut into the Raptors' lead on Friday, and it was not until late in the fourth quarter that some of their shots started to fall. Allen, missing his second straight game after his sore right ankle acted up again, might not have changed anything, or he might have changed everything.
As they say, this was one of those days. The Celtics shot 37 percent from the field and were 10-for-40 from 15-24 feet. (Yes, you read that statistic correctly.) The bread and butter of Boston's offense — long 2-pointers — therefore was gone, and when the Celtics went up for a jump shot, the Raptors defenders did their best impressions of themselves and just stood there. There was no room for Bradley to cut, even if he had wanted to. It was the most stagnant the Celtics have looked offensively in weeks.
Without hitting a single shot, Allen would have fixed that. Allen is no stand-still spot-up shooter like many fellow 30-something bombers. He zips around screens, and when he moves, everyone else moves. The defense rotates to help, and after Allen gets a few shots up, his teammates end up catching the bug to move without the ball. The screeners can also end up getting open when the defense overplays Allen.
Bradley's emergence did not change the Celtics' personality as much as it might have seemed. Boston battled the Philadelphia 76ers for supremacy in defensive efficiency, field-goal percentage against and a number of other defensive factors for most of the season, even with Allen supposedly mucking up the rotations and allowing ballhandlers to knife into the lane at will. With or without Bradley, any team coached by Doc Rivers and backboned by Kevin Garnett will defend like its life depends on it.
It was hard to imagine the Celtics defense being any better than it was Friday. They held the Raptors to 34 percent from the field, instead allowing the Raptors to make a living at the foul line, where Toronto was 27-for-31. Offensively, though, the Celtics could have used all the help they could find. Before we start contemplating whether the sharpshooter has been rendered unnecessary now that Boston has discovered the ultimate weapon named Avery Bradley, let's keep in mind the April night when the Celtics could not score on the Raptors.
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