Boston Celtics stud: Al Horford
With every passing day, it becomes more and more evident that, payroll problems aside, reacquiring Al Horford this past offseason was a great move made by first-year President of Basketball Operations, Brad Stevens.
Sunday was yet another example as to why.
Now, while the Boston Celtics didn’t wind up attaining their sixth-straight victory, the veteran big man was by no means a reason for this unfortunate outcome, as he only proved to be a positive contributor from seemingly everywhere on the hardwood.
Seeing 33 minutes of action on the day, Horford went on to put up a stellar all-around stat-line of 17 points (second-most on the team), six boards, two assists, and a whopping five steals on 60 percent shooting from the floor and 33 percent shooting from deep.
All season long, his defensive efforts have been absolutely dominant in Ime Udoka’s “switch everything” scheme, and against Dallas, this was on full display be it with his man-to-man play or his help defense that saw him taking on speedier and more athletic guards, only to slow them down and force them into sloppy decisions and even turnovers with his high-end IQ.
As far as his offensive production on the year goes, slowly but surely it’s been inching closer to his play on the less glamorous side of the ball, and Sunday’s performance ties for his fifth-highest scoring mark on the year.
Throughout their recent hot-streak, Al Horford has absolutely been one of the team’s most important contributors and, though they weren’t able to pull out a win against the Mavericks, the big man played a major role in why the game was so tightly contested.