A year after the Celtics’ championship run, 36-year-old Al Horford is still proving to be an integral part of what the Boston team does. The 6ft 9’ big man shot 5/7 of his 3-point attempts in the 114-102 Game 3 win against his former team in Philadelphia. But he might have a Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant-like moment with a reporter before the game to thank to.
Advertisement
Friday morning, hours before the game in Wells Fargo Center, Horford was addressing the reporters, when he said he was an “elite shooter” with a visible smile.
“Not much difference, really,” Horford said according to a clip in the Tweet by Marc D’Amico, an in-house Celtics reporter. “I’m still getting good looks, and I’ll continue to shoot them. Even throughout the season, I went through ups and downs. That’s just a part of it when you’re an elite shooter.”
However, when a reporter had a laugh about the same, Horford had a wholesome reaction to call him out. Watch it in the following embed.
Omg I love this pic.twitter.com/QGlLk1wGx0
— Marc D’Amico (@Marc_DAmico) May 5, 2023
After his 17 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals performance, the MJ-Kobe comparison came around.
“Reminds me so much of MJ & Kobe. Basically LOOKING for the tiniest thing that could motivate himself that much more. And then using it to fuel his play,” said the Celtics reporter in a follow-up Tweet.
— Marc D’Amico (@Marc_DAmico) May 6, 2023
Obviously, Jordan or Kobe comparison might not be fair for him as for most other NBA players but,
Al Horford does make the Boston Celtics elite
Big Al was in incredible touch this season, shooting over 47% from the 3-point line in the regular season. That was 2nd best among the players who qualify in that category according to StatMuse.
In the Celtics’ 8 games before Game 3 Friday night, his 3-pt shooting has been worse than a below-average shooter at 29.7%. The 5/7 conversion last night when Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 3/15 from distance and the rest of the Celtics squad shot 8/23, proved to be the difference maker in the win in the hostile Philly environment.
From here on, if the Celtics are going to win it all, Horford has got to bring his elite self in almost every game. The Sixers have enough players to make a run on them, and so do the winners of the Heat and Knicks bracket, if they go through the 76ers.
Can Horford do it after 1 game turnaround?
Al averaged 10.2 points per game shooting 33.6% from the 3-point line in the 2021-22 season according to Basketball Reference. Come postseason, he took it up to 12 PPG on 48% shooting from the perimeter.
Horford has the mentality to be elite when it matters. Celtics fans would hope for him to do the same as they seek to better their last year’s attempt.
