The Boston Celtics will be without 5x All-Star Al Horford on Saturday, November 5 when they travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks on the second night of a back-to-back.
Friday night, the Cs defeated the Chicago Bulls 123-119 despite shooting 29% from the 3-point line on 31 attempts from beyond the arc. Boston was powered by 41 points from Jayson Tatum and Malcolm Brogdon.
The 36-year-old Horford played 33 minutes during the Celtics’ home win on November 4, going for 11 points, grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out five assists in a well-rounded effort for the de facto starting center.
Per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, the Boston Celtics will be without both Horford and Robert Williams III, 2/5ths of the team’s league-best starting lineup from a season ago, with the former sitting out for rest purposes and the latter being out until late December/early January from arthroscopic knee surgery:
Al Horford is out tonight for Boston in New York, in addition to Robert Williams and Danilo Gallinari.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) November 5, 2022
With the Celtics all but certain to spend long chunks of this game playing small, could be another opportunity for the Knicks to try Obi Toppin and Julius Randle together.
Al Horford said he planned on playing back-to-backs for the Boston Celtics before the season
So far, Al Horford has not partaken in either of the second night of the Boston Celtics’ back-to-backs despite claiming before the season that he planned on not missing any. That likely has more to do with Joe Mazzulla’s coaching decisions, but still, Cs fans can’t feel good about their depleted frontcourt needing to rely on veteran’s minimum signees in the absence of Horford and Robert Williams.
Here’s what Horford said before the season:
"“As long as I prepare myself in the offseason to be in the position to play, that is what I’m about. I expect to be playing (in back-to-backs)…”"
Evidently, Mazzulla’s plans aren’t in sync with Horford’s, and that’s probably not the worst thing for the long-term viability of the team to compete deep into the regular season and into the postseason.