celts
Horford has played in 181 career playoff games. Only Karl Malone (193) and John Stockton (182) played more without winning a championship.
Al Horford celebrated after the Celtics swept the Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, giving the 17-year veteran a chance to win his first NBA championship.
When considering everything Al Horford has brought to the table in his second stint with the Celtics, I still find myself remembering one of the final scenes before the first was over.
The 2018-19 Celtics had a few things in common with the current edition, which is four wins away from the NBA championship (high external and internal expectations, a roster brimming with talent) and at least one crucial difference (a surprising lack of camaraderie and chemistry on the part when the playoffs arrived).
For a man, and regardless of role or playing time, the current Celtics seem to really like each other and play for each other. Let’s say those attributes were, um, fleeting with the 2018-19 version.
I’ll spare you the entire rehash as the main divider, Kyrie Irving, now stands between the Celtics and their first title since 2008, and the story of Kyrie: The Boston Years is getting new life.
Let’s briefly revisit that Horford vignette immediately following the end of that 2018-19 Celtics season, a roster implosion that will soon follow the one that occurred on the court in a five-game conference semifinal loss to the Bucks. (It should be noted that Milwaukee didn’t even have Jrue Holiday yet. Irving and the Celtics were cooked by George Hill.)
The Celtics locker room and general atmosphere after that loss was as strange and disturbing as I’ve ever seen. While Irving soliloquized at the podium about his future (“I just want to get to Boston first, you know, safely…”), the Celtics who remained in the locker room fiddled with their phones and ignored each other.
It was Horford who finally stood up, overcame the discomfort and indifference and spoke before a swarm of journalists with his usual thoughtfulness about the ugly ending and what might come next.
Horford was asked about an opt-out option in his contract that he had the right to exercise. He said he hoped to stay with the Celtics. Two months later, following reports that a mystery team was interested in his services, he signed a four-year, $109 million contract… with the rival 76ers. Oh.
When Horford, who in July 2016 had become the first top-tier free agent and in the prime of his career to sign with the Celtics, left for Philadelphia, it was devastating. Losing the mercurial Irving, who in that Bucks series stopped playing for the Celtics long before he officially stopped playing for the Celtics, was one thing.
But losing Horford, the best teammate? It meant that what Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens were building had collapsed in on itself, and the implications stained those who remained. Were Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown really cornerstones of the franchise? Were they copacetic? How long would it be before the Celtics were real contenders again?
The Celtics survived that catastrophic 2019 offseason better than anyone expected, in large part because Tatum and Brown, as hardworking as they were talented, continued their path to all-league status. The Celtics reached the conference finals in the first season without Horford, who didn’t fit in in Philadelphia (an indictment of that organization if ever there was one) and was soon exiled to Oklahoma City for what ended up being a reprieve.
When Stevens, in his first trade since taking over as president of basketball operations after the 2020-21 season, reacquired Horford from the Thunder in exchange for creaky-kneed guard Kemba Walker, it felt like I would have corrected a mistake.
Horford is a quintessential Celtic: versatile and selfless, proud and feisty when challenged (see: Giannis Antetokounmpo, on the floor, game four of the 2022 conference semifinals). I will always believe that the misery of the final weeks of that 2018-2019 season, along with 109 million other reasons, led him to Philadelphia. But in style and spirit, he has always belonged here.
Reacquiring Horford was one of several Auerbachian moves Stevens has made to build the best team in the NBA. (The Derrick White deal has to be the best, right? Although I’ll hear you on Jrue Holiday, who will make the difference in the Finals, you’ll see.)
Horford will turn 38 on Monday, three days before the Celtics begin the most challenging phase of this championship quest. He’s a young man in life, but not by pro basketball standards, and it’s always fun to see a “This again?” A look passes over his face before answering another question about his age with his usual thoughtfulness.
Horford is in a strange place historically. He has played in 181 playoff games, including seven as a rookie in the Hawks’ first-round battle against the eventual champion Celtics in 2008. He only played in the Jazz’s pick-and-roll tandem of Karl Malone (193) and John Stockton (182). more without winning a championship.
If the Celtics win, Horford would be the 10th oldest player to win a championship. (Current Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell won at age 38, with those 2008 Celtics; Robert Parish is the oldest to do so, and received a ring as a 43-year-old spectator for the 1996-97 Bulls.)
Al Horford is averaging 9.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists in the playoffs.
No one should need to be reminded that Horford remains essential. The Celtics are 9-1 in the absence of Kristaps Porzingis during this playoff run in part because Horford stepped into the starting lineup without missing a beat. Nobody thinks of him as a bench player anyway; he is more of the sixth starter.
If the Celtics beat the Mavericks in the Finals, Horford will be the second person everyone will be happiest about, after themselves, of course.
He remains one of the easiest Celtics to like, as conscientious and effective as ever, even at his advanced basketball age. (At some point, he just felt that I wrote that and frowned.)
But we all know it and hopefully so does he. There aren’t many gifts Horford can receive on his 38th birthday that equal in value what the Celtics received when he returned to Boston.
Sign up to receive Celtics updates🏀
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox throughout basketball season.
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.