Surging Al Horford Has Celtics Headed In Right Direction
By Tom Mulherin
A Peaking Al Horford has led the Celtics toward a positive path while heading into the regular season’s final stretch.
After the Boston Celtics beat the Pacers 109-100 Wednesday night, they left the fan base with plenty to feel happy about heading into Friday’s game against the Suns.
The Cavaliers lost a couple of hours later, leaving the Celtics just one game out of first place in the Eastern Conference. Boston’s preferred starting five – which is 23-7 when intact – seems finally healthy, as Avery Bradley logged 39 minutes in the win. The Celtics also have won five of their past six games heading into the final stretch of the regular season, and three-straight wins over playoff-bound teams in the East has the group feeling confident for once the postseason comes around.
This team has certainly been one to rave about. And yet, while it takes the whole team to achieve the list above, much of this recent success can directly be attributed to just one player’s uptick in performance.
That player is center Al Horford.
By notching 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the win over the Pacers, the 10-year veteran is averaging 17.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.2 assists over the last six games as consistent triple-double threat. That includes a 20-point, eight-assist effort (on 9-of-12 shooting) in a win over the Timberwolves, as well as a 14-point game in a win over the Nets while Thomas sat out via injury.
Add those offensive numbers to the 1.8 blocks and 0.8 steals he averaged over the same span, and Horford has quickly emerged as perhaps the Celtics’ most important two-way player at the moment.
“He makes (the game) very easy for everyone else,” Jae Crowder said to Comcast SportsNet New England’s Abby Chin after Wednesday’s game. “He’s very, very unselfish. He plays basketball the right way.”
While almost all of us who follow the Celtics would agree that Horford is a key cog in what Boston is accomplishing right now, it hasn’t always been that way.
Although he’s averaged double-digit points while holding the NBA’s best assist rate for a center just about all year long, a plethora of single-digit scoring efforts with low rebounding totals in earlier months had left fans feeling restless with Horford. Many felt he didn’t deserve the max contract he signed, despite what some optimistic fans and those within the locker room said about him.
But Horford – who shot 35 percent from 3 before the All-Star break – is now hitting shots more consistently from beyond the arc (shooting 40 percent since). He’s also become a much more reliable shooter in general (46 percent shooter before break, 54 percent shooter since), as his reliability to create a shot in an iso-post has skyrocketed. And when he can’t find his own shot, you best believe he’s going to set up a teammate for an open shot themselves.
The offense just flows so much better behind his improved performances, and most of those early critiques of Horford have been put to rest. Not to mention, his teammates certainly seem to enjoy his recent upswing as well.
“We like to get the ball in his hands because we know he’s going to make the right play the majority of the time, either for himself or for a teammate,” Bradley said of Horford earlier in the week, via CSNNE. “He sacrifices a lot for this team and it doesn’t go unnoticed. We appreciate him, he’s definitely a great addition to this team. He plays the right way.”
Of course, all of this couldn’t have come at a more perfect time for the Celtics.
With just 10 games remaining on the schedule and home-court advantage up until the finals on the line, Boston is going to need top-notch performances from everyone on the roster. Especially since half of those games are against opponents that would make the playoffs if the season ended before Friday night. That includes a game against the Cavaliers on April fifth.
If the Celtics are going to make a legitimate run toward either holding onto the second seed or stealing the top one, they will need their high-salaried center to play his money’s worth.
Next: Boston Celtics Week in Review
With the trend he’s currently on and a healthy starting rotation on his side, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.