Doc Rivers just called Avery Bradley "50/50" to play tomorrow night. @celtics @weei

May 22, 2012 9:47 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MutWEEI

Mike Mutnansky

Here’s what Rivers had to say about Bradley yesterday night prior to Game 5:

“It’s not just the one — it’s actually both shoulders. And that’s probably trying to protect the other one. It’s pretty bad. We have to keep winning, obviously, and hope he can still play games that day. But I think this is probably how it’s going to be from this point on. I think he’ll play a game and miss a couple, and play a game,” said Doc Rivers. …

“We lose our defensive captain,” Rivers said, also mentioning Kevin Garnett’s name to reference Boston’s other clear defensive leader. “When Avery’s [not playing], it takes away the ability to put Rondo on different guys to give him a rest at times. I think ball pressure against Philly is really important, and to ask Rondo to do that and run the team is very difficult. So he clearly takes something out of our lineup.”

Mike Petraglia of WEEI reported that Bradley is “highly unlikely” to play again this series. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time the Celtics have shielded us from the complete truth.