When Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley scored 24 points in his team's Game 5 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, Bulls star Jimmy Butler wasn't happy.

In addition to watching his counterpart score 24 points, Butler was held to just 14 points by the talented defender.

After that game, Butler commented that "guys like Avery Bradley" shouldn't be scoring 24 points against the Bulls, and clearly Bradley took offense to those words.

After dropping a team-high 23 points in Boston's Game 6 series-clinching victory (ironically tying Butler for the most points in the game), Bradley responded to Butler's disrespectful comments, telling ESPN.com that he bested Butler in Games 5 and 6:

"You want to know something, I took [Butler's comments] personal," Bradley said. "There was a few guys that walked up to me and said -- I think Jimmy had said [after Game 5], 'We can't let guys like Avery Bradley score 20.' And I usually don't say anything. I just go out there and play hard. But I feel like every player should respect this game and respect the guys that go out there and prepare every single night.

"And I feel like I won the battle tonight. And not only that, I play hard every single game. And I feel like he should respect that, somebody that goes up and gives him respect every single game. And so I'm just going to leave it there. But, like I said, I definitely won two battles in a row."

Indeed, Bradley's numbers in the last two games of the Eastern Conference first-round series speak for themselves and show that he did, in fact, outplay the Bulls star when it mattered the most.

Even Celtics coach Brad Stevens was impressed with Bradley's efforts in the final games of the series, saying he's been happy with how the guard has played since returning from a heel injury:

"I'm happy for [Bradley]," Stevens said. "It was a strain those two months he missed [with the Achilles injury], but I'm glad it wasn't April and May. We talked about that, joked as a staff that, as much as we were injured during the season, at least it wasn't the postseason. We've been fortunate -- knock on wood -- to stay healthy and Avery has been in midseason form. The way he's playing right now, maybe that time off was good for him."

Bradley, along with star point guard Isaiah Thomas, will continue to be one of the biggest keys to the Celtics' success moving forward. Boston will face the Washington Wizards - and their star backcourt combo of John Wall and Bradley Beal - in the Eastern Conference semifinals, so Bradley will need to continue to play well on both ends of the floor if the Celtics are going to advance.