Al Horford is the unicorn that no one is talking about

Al Horford has become the forgotten unicorn in an NBA that is getting more and more versatile

The NBA playoffs distinguish the great from the good. The NBA players who fail to show up when it matters – regardless of their regular season performance – lose all credibility and respect. Playoff basketball is a complete different game, some players learn this the hard way. Some players cave in to all the pressure, while other players rise to be occasion.

The Boston Celtics are lucky enough to say that their young ones were the latter rather than the former. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum both shined in their first playoff start, which was crucial for the Celtics to come away with a win in their game 1 matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks.

According to current starting point guard Terry Rozier, these guys aren’t young ones anymore. Or in other words, the Celtics ultimately cannot afford having these dynamic prospects play to their age. But even with these heavy contributions from Brown and Tatum, even with unconscious scoring from Marcus Morris and Rozier, and even with the superior basketball mind steering the team in Brad Stevens.

The difference in this game was ultimately that Al Horford rose to the occasion as we have become accustomed to in the playoffs. Hence, “Playoff Al”. In a game where the Bucks shot 7 percent better from the field and Kris Middleton couldn’t miss a shot, the difference was quite simple. The Celtics had Horford while the Bucks didn’t.

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In a league that is blessed with unicorn like talents – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kristaps Porzingis, Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic – the one forgotten unicorn talent seems to be the perennial all-star Manning the middle in Boston. Yes, Horford is a unicorn in his own right. The label unicorn is given to these bigs who possess insane size and length matched with an advanced understanding of the game and guard like shooting. Horford fits every part of this criteria. It is easy to overlook Horford’s contributions at times. His selfishness and defensive presence doesn’t jump out at everyone, but Horford’s play in game one proved one thing: Horford is the best player on the Celtics at the moment and without him, they would be lost on both ends of the court.

What makes Horford so special on the offensive side is the combination of his size, basketball IQ, and ability to spread the court. Unicorn Al did everything in game one from bringing the ball up the court, calling plays, and knocking down step back threes to bullying the Greek Freak in the post and controlling the glass.

On the opposite side of the court, Horford was a physical deterrent to Antetokounmpo and a lengthy pest altering many of his shots. Giannis, who did find success scoring the ball, had to do so by forcing switches onto smaller defenders or by getting to the foul line. The biggest question coming into this first round series was how the Celtics would deal with Antetokounmpo. The recipe the Celtics used and the now apparent answer is make the Greek freak deal with Horford. He couldn’t stop Horford when Horford posted him up and he was struggling to match his physicality throughout the four quarters and overtime.

Al Horford will continue to get disrespect from traditional bigs like Charles Barkley as he looks past all the little things that Horford does on both ends of the court. But if game one was indicative of anything it is that we need to re-evaluate how we look at number 42 on Boston. He is a unicorn in his own right and will continue to have an immense impact on both ends of the court.

Next: Rozier Needs to Keep Attacking

The nickname “Unicorn Al” will hopefully blow up, but everyone should now that it originated in this article.

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