Bedard's Daily Briefing 12.28.18: A double-loss night for Celtics, Bruins; Gronk all-in

Good morning!

A few random thoughts while I try to figure out how the Celtics continue to be this disjointed...

• The Celtics went to Houston and were just outshot by James Harden in the fourth quarter. He made a career-high nine 3-pointers as the Rockets pulled away from a Celtics team that still has issues with questionable shot selection and defense.


• The bench was the big problem in this one, and B-Robb breaks down the many issues. Included are some questionable decisions by Brad Stevens.


• Oh, but that wasn't the worst loss of the night for the locals. That award goes to the Bruins, who, despite having basically their entire lineup back and healthy (save Charlie McAvoy), came out flat and were pushed around by the Devils, who are terrible and were without Taylor Hall. ... Huh?


• Bruce Cassidy better have a pretty good idea Don Sweeney is going to go get him a bonafide second-line wing ... or else there's no real good reason why he continues to keep the top line intact. The second line is just not good enough right now. The Bruins have to get David Pastrnak back with David Krejci.


• The Bruins again don't have secondary scoring. They will not advance in the postseason without it. So what, exactly, is the point of keeping Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak together? The only thing I can think of is Cassidy knows Sweeney will get him someone for that second line.


• Gronk had an interesting press conference on Thursday. Chris Price breaks it all down.


• Sounds like the Big Fella is year to year at this point. Can't blame him, and I thought his answers on the topic were what you want to hear — he's not worried about all that yet.