Forsberg Disagrees

Q: I know it is only preseason, but the Celtics have lost some bad games. Do you think that this will affect their game throughout the regular season? -- Robert (Jakarta, Indonesia) 

A: Just like no one should overreact to Boston's dominant effort Thursday night in Brooklyn, it's probably not worth getting too lathered up about their previous struggles. Let's remember that Boston is integrating a bunch of new players into the offense and Rivers is mixing-and-matching them, trying to figure out what lineups best maximize that talent. You can make the case that Boston's third-teamers have kicked away two wins (versus Knicks and Nets). Alas, the Celtics were downright stomped in Philadelphia (albeit without Kevin Garnett) and there's plenty to clean up before the regular season arrives. A defined rotation and longer playing time for the veterans should alleviate much of the preseason concerns thus far, but Boston will almost certainly be a work in progress for much of the early part of the new season.  

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Overreact? Me? It's too late, Chris. I already compared  them to the 1976 World Champions.  Work in progress? OK, maybe. Still, the team seems to be enjoying itself, enjoying playing with each other, and enjoying playing at a high level more than at any time recently. Getting out on the break has helped release them from the prison of plodding basketball in seasons past. The team is younger and more athletically gifted than in recent years, and they seem intent to use those gifts first on defense, something that has to excite Garnett, and second on offense, which will make Garnett's life easier.

An excited, rested, and revitalized Garnett is something for Celtics fans to be excited about, and, btw, Garnett was all of those things last night.