Boston Celtics: 1 stud and 1 dud from C’s down to the wire loss in Game 3
By Mark Nilon
Boston Celtics stud: Al Horford
On a night when seemingly every key contributor was off, Al Horford was absolutely on and shining blindingly bright.
Making his impact felt on both ends of the floor, the veteran big man was a steady provider all game long, especially during their pivotal fourth quarter where they almost made their miraculous comeback.
Finishing with the lone positive box plus-minus rating on the Boston Celtics, big Al went on to post a stellar overall stat line of 22 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, and two blocks on a highly efficient 52.9 percent shooting from the floor and 57 percent shooting from deep.
Unsurprisingly, however, Horford also managed to do plenty of damage that didn’t wind up making it onto the stat sheet, be it with his always valuable leadership to his stellar on-ball and help defense, often spelling the Greek Freek himself.
In fact, what sparked their final period comeback was an impressive block on Giannis that led to a transition lay-in by Brown.
Easily his best game of the postseason since opening day, Al Horford’s efforts will be much needed when they take to the court once more in a highly pivotal/ must-win Game 4.