Celtics C Al Horford Is A Consistent Triple-Double Threat

While he might be scoring less than 15 points per gam, Al Horford has morphed into a nightly danger to post a triple-double on the opposition.

The crowd on hand at the TD Garden for Wednesday’s 117-104 shellacking of the Minnesota Timberwolves received all the reason to believe that the Boston Celtics‘ free agent signing of Al Horford was a justifiable decision.

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Horford performed at his peak against the Timberwolves frontcourt tandem of future perennial All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns and the effective Gorgui Dieng. Horford was tremendously efficient from the field, shooting 9-of-12 while garnering 20 points on the night. He displayed a considerable amount of patience in terms of his shot selection, preventing himself from rapidly firing off-balance three-point shots off of catch-and-shoot opportunities (he went 1-for-2 from three-point range). Instead, he consistently sized up his defender, displaying a pump fake or a jab step before deciding the best manner by which to add to his scoring total.

This composure was on display immediately at the outset of the triumph. One minute into the game, Avery Bradley takes a screen from Horford at the top of the key before driving right and dishing the ball back out to Horford on the high left elbow. With Towns sagging off, this is a scenario in which Horford could have impatiently jacked up a three-point shot, looking to find the flow of the contest. Instead, Horford staved off the urge to take the deep shot, took two dribbles into the paint and utilized a quick screen by Bradley inside to find room for a right-handed floater that sailed over the outstretched arm of Dieng for the first two of his 20 points.

(Find the aforementioned play at 0:41 of this video).

While the contest marked Horford’s highest point total since January 25, his contributions in the points category did not fully summarize the magnitude of the effect that he had on the game’s outcome. The veteran was a wizard with the rock, hitting his teammates for a team-high eight assists, his third game in four nights with at least six dimes. Horford has simply altered the manner in which the Celtics operate with his court vision. When he is on the floor, every single Boston option is a threat to score as Horford is capable of spotting a cutter out of the corner of his eye or whipping the ball to the weak side of the floor to hit a spot-up shooter for an open shot.

Since January 25, the Celtics are 9-0 in contests in which Horford garners at least six assists. Horford opens up the Boston offense into a machine capable of forcing defenders to rotate constantly with consistent ball movement. More often than not, when Horford is on the floor, an open look is obtainable.

He was also a stalwart defensively, swatting a pair of shots while grabbing nine rebounds, his second consecutive outing with at least seven boards. Since the beginning of February, Boston is a whopping 7-0 when Horford racks up seven rebounds. Without a surplus of dependable rebounders down low, the Celtics rely on Horford to be aggressive on the glass in order to have any chance of winning the rebounding battle.

Although he has not been as dominant of a rebounding option as Boston originally hoped with an underwhelming 11.3 total rebound percentage, when Horford becomes a threat on the boards, the Celtics are a different animal defensively. This allows positive defensive possessions to conclude with the opposition receiving just one shot attempt, keeping the legs of suffocating defenders such as Bradley and Marcus Smart fresh.

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When Horford notched seven rebounds against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday afternoon, the showing was directly correlated to Boston winning the rebounding battle by a margin of 51-40. In Horford’s most recent episode of double-digit rebounds, the Celtics lost the tilt on the glass to the Cleveland Cavaliers by a slim gap of 56-52 in a statement victory. This is an impressive feat considering the fact that Cleveland ranks seventh in the league in defensive rebounds per night while the Celtics slide into the 23rd spot in the NBA in this category.

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