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Ever since 1957, when Bill Russell supplied the impetus for the legendary Celtics dynasty, Boston’s game plan has always been based on defense. So, although the Celtics’ bench produced an unexpected 44 points against the home-standing Knicks, it was no surprise that a relentless muscling, hustling defense was the difference in the Celtics’ 97-89 win. And two key components of that defense were Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart.

Together these two totaled only 10 points on 4-18 shooting in 59 minutes. They also combined for only two steals (both by Smart), and Bradley was credited with the only blocked shot. Paltry numbers, to be sure, but their defense (and defense in general) cannot be measured quantitatively.

Once again, let’s look beyond the numbers.

BRADLEY

He battled his way through several weak-side screens and when he was nailed, Bradley was often quick enough (with minimal help from one of his big men) to reattach himself to his man before an open shot could be taken.

Even more impressive were those sequences when Bradley was forced into what appeared to be highly disadvantageous switches. For example, when the 6’2” Bradley was taken into the low post by the 6’8” Derrick Williams, he kept changing his approach — fronting the bigger player, playing top-side to deny an entry pass, playing behind Williams and using his lower center-of-gravity to root him off the box. In so doing, Bradley forced Williams to keep moving, thereby preventing any possibility of D-Will’s receiving an entry pass.  

On three occasions, Bradley’s swarming, feisty defense likewise kept the Knicks from getting the ball into the low-posted Arron Afflalo. Once, when Afflalo did receive an entry pass in the pivot, Bradley hounded him into making a harmless out-pass. Moreover, Bradley was able to keep his body on Afflalo when the Knicks’ 6’5” wingman made several dive cuts.

Nor did Bradley’s defensive efforts end when a shot was launched. He aggressively, and effectively, not only boxed out Afflalo but also sealed the 6’8” Carmelo Anthony off the glass.

To be sure, Bradley’s defense wasn’t flawless. Afflalo bagged a trey in an early-offense sequence when Bradley focused on stopping ball-penetration by Langston Galloway and was too far away to recover. Afflalo also hit a step-back 16-footer in an iso situation. But both of these scores were understandable since defenders rarely if ever pitch shutouts.

Indeed, Bradley’s only grievous error was fouling Sasha Vujacic in the act of shooting a trey.

On offense, Bradley received the ball only after running past assorted screens — pin-downs, staggered-screens, screen-the-screener plays, plus an occasional hand-off. He only managed to score on a driving floater and a pair of mid-range jumpers.

The six points Bradley scored was more than eight below his per-game average, but Tyler Zeller (16 points) and Evan Turner (14) more than compensated for his 3-13 shooting. Still, Bradley’s ornery defense was a significant factor in the visitors’ win.

SMART

His defense was more belligerent than Bradley’s. A solid 6’4”, 230 pounds, Smart repeatedly jammed the Knicks’ Triangle offense by denying passes to Lance Thomas, Anthony and Afflalo. When Melo did manage to receive a pass in the low post, Smart forced him to toss up a brick.

After Vujacic went off on a mini scoring spree, Smart showed his versatility by switching on to him and limiting Sasha to a long trey attempt that caused a slight breeze but never hit either iron or nylon. Plus, Smart was also called upon to defend Jerian Grant, New York’s rookie point guard. Smart proceeded to crowd Grant and force a long errant three-ball, and otherwise compelling the rookie to do little more than concentrate on protecting his dribbling.

What else?

Two steals, one of which led to Smart’s only bucket on a breakaway layup. Drawing a charge on Kristaps Porzingis. Blasting his way through several screens. Smashing into a high screen set by Porzingis with such force that the rookie staggered slightly, and inducing one of the three blind mice to tweet KP for a moving screen.

The only points scored against Smart were a pull-up by Afflalo, and one-of-two free throws that were the end result of a hack-in-the-act.

At the other end, Smart hoisted his share of bricks — 1-5 including a hasty 0-3 from beyond the arc. But he did drop a pair of dimes on his teammates.

An indication of how severely the Celtics’ defense scrambled the Knicks Triangle was the home team’s recording only 13 assists on the 31 baskets they scored. So, too, NY shot only 37.8 percent. Compare these sad-sack numbers to Boston’s 20 assists on 40 field goals and 44.4 percent shooting.

While the Celtics’ roster isn’t sufficiently talented to make them a serious championship contender, they’ll at least qualify for the playoffs because of their earnest and routinely contentious defense.

And, although Jae Crowder is no slouch, there’s no question that Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart set the tone on the uphill end of the game.