Al Horford’s impact on Boston Celtics bigger than people realize

Al Horford is 37 years old and has logged a ton of minutes in his career. Despite that, Horford continues to perform at a high level for the Boston Celtics, and he is positively impacting the team. Horford’s strong performance against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 15 during a 117-107 win and the postgame reactions highlight how impactful Horford still is to the C's pursuit of Banner 18.

First, let’s start with Horford’s incredible performance, which saw him amass 14 points on 4/8 shooting from three-point range and a whopping five blocks. Horford looked like his prime self, flashing back to the old days when he terrorized opposing centers with his strong shooting and timely defense.

More importantly, he held reigning MVP Joel Embiid to just 20 points; continuing his thorough domination of the future Team USA big man.

The performance from Horford led to interesting reactions from the Celtics, which was mostly Horford praise. The first comment that sticks out to me is from Jayson Tatum, who acknowledged how Horford is his favorite teammate and the overall impact he has had on his career.

Most people don’t realize how helpful Horford has been to Tatum’s development in recent seasons. It goes to show just how important it is to have solid veterans around burgeoning superstars. It’s great that Tatum has a veteran that he can turn to at different points throughout the season.

Another comment that I found interesting was from Joe Mazzulla, who highlighted how important Horford is to the culture that he is trying to build.

Mazzulla’s comment highlights how important Horford is to the Cs culture as well as the way they carry themselves. Horford has been one of the most impactful Celtics of the last decade in terms of his impact on winning and fostering a community-like atmosphere in the locker room.

Al Horford playing well alleviates the need for Boston Celtics bench additions

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how Horford holds up for the rest of this season. If he can have enough energy to impact the game come May, and hopefully, June, the Celtics could have all the ingredients necessary to win with a tight rotation.

Otherwise, reinforcements are necessary.