Forsberg: That was as bad as I’ve seen Celtics play
On Wednesday’s Toucher & Hardy program, Chris Forsberg reacted to the Boston Celtics’ disappointing 117-116 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Tuesday night’s group-stage matchup was the first NBA Cup game of the season for both teams.
Forsberg: Celtics ‘Sloppy’ & ‘Careless’
Parts of conversation abbreviated for clarity.
Fred Toucher: How is the NBA Cup going for the Boston Celtics?
Chris Forsberg: Not great. The Cup is bad. I was very excited about last night’s game and all these matchups. The Celtics evidently did not match the Atlanta Hawks’s intensity. It was a little bewildering.
There’s one flaw this Celtics group has had over multiple seasons. Whenever the other team is a little bit decimated, they don’t bring their “A” effort, and last night was chief among them.
I mean that was as bad as I’ve seen them play, sloppy and just careless. It’s a little frustrating. I thought they would be really fired up for this thing and they weren’t.
Toucher: Is Atlanta better without Trae Young?
Forsberg: I mean, it sure feels that way, right?
Toucher: It really does.
Jon Wallach: The Hawks beat them twice in Atlanta last year without Trey Young. So yes, they’re much better defensively without him.
Forsberg: I always think there’s something to the idea that when a team doesn’t have its stars and like the other guys get that opportunity, I think there’s always just the chance that they go out there and play above expectation.
Could they do this over a sustained period of time? I don’t know. We’ll see how long Trae Young is out. He had this Achilles thing last year.
But for whatever reason, when you enable Dyson Daniels and Jaylen Johnson, those guys will want to make a name for themselves. It was clear those guys embraced that situation.
Also, there’s something about not having a ball-dominant guy like Young out on the floor. Trae does share the ball and he’s a good passer, but he takes a high volume of shots. That part is undeniable.
I’ve never been able to figure out the Hawks. They got to the Eastern Conference Finals a couple of years ago. Last year, they came plummeting back to Earth a little bit. And they’ve got some questions because they moved on from Dejounte Murray. Now, they’ve got some questions about building around a different core. We’ll see how things fare for them over a larger sample size.
Segment Audio
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3 Stars: Bruins pull off biggest comeback yet with win over Blues
Third Star: Morgan Geekie
Nov 12, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) gives up a goal to Boston Bruins center Morgan Geekie (39) during the third period at Enterprise Center. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
A healthy scratch in three straight games, Morgan Geekie was given one hell of a rebound opportunity, with Tuesday coming with Geekie not only thrown back into the lineup, but back in the lineup and to the left of Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak on the B’s top line. And Geekie did not miss his chance to make that opportunity count, with a goal that ultimately sparked Boston’s third-period comeback against Jordan Binnington.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s flight out to St. Louis, Geekie acknowledged that he felt that a lot of what was bugging him (zero goals and two assists in 11 games this season) was more between the ears than anything physically.
This isn’t too dissimilar to his 2023-24, which saw him start slow before really picking things up in late November. But for better or worse, these Bruins aren’t built to deal with another prolonged Geekie dry spell after he emerged as a tremendous middle-six scoring threat for the club a year ago.
In addition to the goal, Geekie finished Tuesday’s win with two hits, a blocked shot, and a plus-2 rating.
Second Star: Charlie McAvoy
Nov 12, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) controls the puck as St. Louis Blues left wing Jake Neighbours (63) defends during the third period at Enterprise Center. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
The Bruins are a better team when Charlie McAvoy shoots the puck. It’s just a fact. And McAvoy gave us another example of that Tuesday, with the game-tying goal that forced the Blues to respect his shot later in the evening when he dished it off to David Pastrnak for the game-winning goal.
What was doubly important about McAvoy’s night is that it felt like his best hockey came after Hampus Lindholm was knocked out of the game with a lower-body injury. The Bruins had to lean on McAvoy, and lean on him hard (with over 25 minutes), and he delivered for the Black and Gold.
They’re gonna need more of that, too.
First Star: David Pastrnak
Nov 12, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) reacts after scoring the game winning goal against the St. Louis Blues during the third period at Enterprise Center. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
Here’s a ‘fun’ stat for you: Of the Bruins’ first six shots in this contest, all six came from David Pastrnak. But it wasn’t until Pastrnak’s final shot of the evening that Boston’s top offensive weapon finally broke through on Jordan Binnington for what captured the win for the Bruins in the third period of this contest.
You could almost see the relief on Pastrnak’s face once that goal crossed over the line and gave No. 88 his first goal since his strike in Boston’s Oct. 26 win over the Maple Leafs. But Pastrnak put his fingerprints all over this game, beginning with the takeaway-and-assist on Morgan Geekie’s third-period strike. And the Bruins downright dominated the puck whenever Pastrnak was out there.
I’ve said it dozens of times before and I’ll say it again: Pastrnak is perhaps the only Bruins player who has that legit ‘takeover’ ability on a nightly basis. His third period felt like that, and the offensively-challenged Bruins are going to need that every single night until the some of the other percentages around the lineup trend upwards.
