Different NBA players are often defined by different things. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have almost always been seen as scorers. They are elite in so many other areas of the game, but when it all boils down to the way people watch basketball, they are score-first players. Derrick White is an elite defender. Payton Pritchard is an incredible three-point shooter.
But in some cases, a player is known for more than just a technical area of the game. And in the case of Al Horford, that couldn’t be more true. He’s built a reputation with Celtics fans that supplants all normal expectations a person could have for a basketball player.
He could score zero points, and the biggest Celtics fans in the world would still understand how impactful he was throughout a game.
Al Horford's impact is understood by the biggest Celtics fans
For most fans, box scores are a useful tool for evaluating player performances. And every once in a while, Horford has a game that pops in the box score. Just look at the Celtics’ win over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday afternoon.
Horford posted 19 points, eight rebounds, and three steals, burying the Nuggets with one of his best statistical games of the year.
But had Horford not put the ball in the basket a single time, he still would have been one of the most impactful players on the floor for the Celtics.
Boston’s plan for slowing down Nikola Jokic was pretty interesting, as Joe Mazzulla said that they barely talked about him during their game planning. “We didn't talk anything about Jokic in the game plan,” Mazzulla said post-game. “It's not about him. It's about controlling all the other stuff that you can control.”
Having Horford as a tool to employ was crucial to this idea, as he was often left on an island with Jokic. And though the Nuggets superstar still put up solid stats, his impact on the game was lessened by the Celtics’ game plan to take away cuts off the ball and guard Jokic one-on-one.
The Celtics veteran even stayed with Jamal Murray when he had to, guarding almost anyone on Denver in space—not an easy task for any player, let alone a 38-year-old.
Jokic shot 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from deep against Horford, but again, since the Celtics took away the rest of his offensive impact, they were to jump out to a lead and maintain it.
The box score says that Nuggets players shot very well against Horford (12-of-17), but watching the game, his impact guarding in space helped the Celtics exact their game plan.