After sitting out of the Boston Celtics’ first four preseason, Al Horford finally got some run on Tuesday. He played 23:08 against the Toronto Raptors in what ended in a 119-118 loss for Boston. Unfortunately, the rust was clear as day for the 38-year-old, as he didn’t look like his usual self.
Horford’s shot wasn’t falling all night, as he ended the evening shooting 1-of-6 from the floor and 0-of-4 from beyond the three-point arc. However, he looked solid on defense and still managed to get in the right positions on both ends. A beacon of consistency throughout his 17-year career, Horford is not someone fans should worry about.
And after the game, he spoke about how his first minutes of the new season.
Al Horford is feeling good heading into the season
The Celtics veteran chatted with the media after Tuesday’s loss, expressing how nice it felt to be back out on the court. (H/t Justin Turpin of WEEI)
“It felt good,” Horford said via NBC Sports Boston. “It felt good just to be out there. Be part of a game. Get up and down and get a feel back for it. So, pretty happy with being back.”
As far as his conditioning goes, Horford stated that he’s feeling good heading into the year.
“I think I’m in a good place,” Horford said. “As the season continues to go, the good thing is we have a week until we start, so I’ll continue to prepare and be in a better place.
“But to your question, yeah, I’m doing a lot of conditioning, which I feel like helped me a lot because I felt pretty decent out there with my wind and everything, which is, to me, is the most important.”
Kristaps Porzingis is set to miss a couple of months to start the season, with his projected return date slated to be around the end of the calendar year. That means Horford will be all the most important to the Celtics rotation.
However, Horford has been sitting out on the second night of back-to-backs since re-joining Boston ahead of the 2021-22 season. That means the rest of the big-man rotation—Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman, and Neemias Queta—will have to step up.
But even though that group looked great during the preseason, Horford is still the key player who will help hold the Celtics together.
If he’s feeling all right heading into the year, then the Celtics should be very happy.