Boston Celtics: How Al Horford figures into beating league’s elites

Al Horford has provided the Boston Celtics unselfish, versatile play from the center position. Moving forward in the playoffs, he is a major key to success.

Before their Jan. 27 game against the Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr lauded opponent Al Horford as the “hub of the wheel. Things sort of revolve around him.”

Referring to him as “the perfect modern-day center,” Kerr game planned like he truly believed that.

One of the most crucial offensive sets the Celtics have in their arsenal revolves around Horford’s basketball IQ in the half-court. The ball-handler brings the ball up, dumps it off to Horford on the block, and the surrounding offensive players go into motion for a spot-up jumper or look for cuts for easy baskets under the rim. Horford assesses the play – and his defender – and either goes to work in the post or dishes to a teammate.

What the Warriors did to be proactive in stopping the Celtics getting a rhythm out of these sets was a consistent doubling of Al Horford when he got his touches down low. With DeMarcus Cousins coming back from an Achilles injury, the Dubs would throw a combination of Draymond Green, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala or any of their like-sized wings at Horford to disrupt the play.

While this is certainly an effective way to combat Horford scoring out of the post, I’m not so sure this could be a winning formula for a seven-game series. Horford is a cerebral passer out of the post whose playmaking as a big takes a backseat to only Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic.

With all the shooters around him in Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris and even Marcus Smart (debate all you want, he can shoot now), a double only frees up a weapon for the Celtics. With Horfords passing instincts, any time a shooter’s defender sags off, he’ll have the necessary space to fire away once the Celtics big man finds him.

Against Golden State, Horford’s impact goes further than his playmaking ability. While Stephen Curry is a better defender then a good portion of fans give him credit for, he has no business picking up Irving at half court. That forces the Warriors to give up size on the wings with Klay Thompson covering Kyrie, leaving Durant, Green and Curry flying around trying to account for all of Boston’s shooters.

That should make any coach comfortable, because Green is a world-class defender and Durant has the size and speed to be a nightmare for any offensive player. But the Celtics have the personnel to force favorable mismatches.

Horford’s outside shooting can draw Boogie out of the paint, where he can get torched by hi jumper, drive or passing prowess from the top of the key. The Warriors are better off switching when this happens, which leaves Cousins – or Kevon Looney (or any of their bigs for that matter) – in a mismatch on one of the Celtics’ smaller, faster, talented guards/wings that could take advantage of the matchup from all three levels of the floor.

While Horford’s impact on the Warriors is not lost on either Golden State or Boston, he actually is the second-most important player on the floor against all the great teams in the NBA. Kyrie is the Celtics’ best player, and they will continue to live and die by his performance because he is just that type of player – a franchise-changer. However, Horford is the perfect role player who can adjust and adapt his game to best suit Boston against anybody.

Last year’s postseason is proof of this. The hospital Celtics were without Gordon Hayward, Kyrie, solid rotational piece Daniel Theis and for stretches, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart. Still, they kept their heads above water and weathered the storms brought upon by Giannis Antentokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers before falling valiantly to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

How, you may find yourself asking, did they do this without Kyrie Irving? Short answer: Al Horford. You can’t ignore the growth Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown showed, or the heart of Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier, but those things in and of themselves are not enough. Brown and Tatum were good, but not good enough alone to power past the Greek Freak and Philly’s process. Horford perfectly molded his game to best suit the Celtics’ strengths in those series, as well as cover their weaknesses.

Against the Bucks, Boston ran into the same problem that everybody in the league does; it really is not possible to guard Giannis. But, they lacked a big that could take over inside outside of Antetokounmpo, and with Khris Middleton as the only other major threat on the wing drawing a healthy dose of Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown, Horford went on Giannis duty. He can’t be stopped, but, he can be forced to take inefficient shots that slow down their offense and take his surrounding shooters out of rhythm.

With Horford displaying his defensive chops on the Greek Freak on the outside and Aron Baynes patrolling the paint, the Celtics were able to outlast Milwaukee with terrific home performances by the whole team.

In the series against the Sixers, Horford’s defensive ability on Giannis was reapplied to a similar matchup in Ben Simmons. Horford did an admiral job locking him up, even holding Simmons to one point in Game 2. However, unlike the Bucks, Philly does have an elite big that can sink an opponent in Joel Embiid.

Horford’s ability to switch onto to Embiid while Baynes struggled in that matchup was huge for Boston, as a player of that caliber requires a mix of different players in constant rotation being thrown at him. Without Horford, Boston probably does not win that series, never mind sending them packing after administering a gentleman’s sweep.

It’s Horford’s overall versatility that makes him so dangerous. He can score from all three levels of the floor, is perhaps the second-best passing big (depending on if Draymond Green is counted as a “big”) and has the defensive ability to cover the burly bigs in the post and speedy unicorns.

He doesn’t put up the numbers of an elite big. He definitely doesn’t put up the numbers of somebody with a well-deserved max contract, though investing in Al Horford has proved to be one of the great moves done by Danny Ainge. Horford is a steadying force for the young guns on the team. He’s another shooter for Kyrie to play off. He’s the best team defender on a team that has Marcus Smart, for crying out loud.

“Average Al” may a nickname given to him by some in sports media, but there is nothing average about his game. He is truly an anomaly on the defensive and offensive end, a fluid, selfless player with a game well-rounded enough to make an impact every time against everybody. There are more talented centers in the league, but there is no one else I’d rather have manning the middle against the Warriors or the other elites in the NBA.