By the deadline, the Boston Celtics should be the fastest-rising team in the league. They could not even guarantee playoff qualification, but with two highly targeted signings, the Celtics rebounded strongly in the second half of the season. The arrival of Derek White and Daniel Theis not only enhanced the overall strength and bench depth of the Celtics, but also activated the other players in the team to some extent.
The Celtics' away game against the Chicago Bulls, as both teams have locked up playoff qualification, naturally can be regarded as a strong dialogue. As a result, the Bulls did not expect to meet the top strong team, always appear to be vulnerable, the Celtics soldiers are not bloody, away to the 117-94 victory over the Chicago Bulls, it is basically locked in the first round of the playoffs home advantage. Among them, the nearly 36-year-old veteran Al Horford shot all seven shots, including three three-pointers, cut 17 points and 10 rebounds, and scored a double-double, while Horford's rebounds were tied with Tatum, and the plus or minus of +23 led the game.
Horford was a 2007 flower hunt, following Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. Horford played for the Atlanta Hawks early in his career, was a four-time All-Star, his style of play is unpretentious, but the basic skills are very solid, a bit like the poor version of Tim Duncan, Horford can play in both center and big forward positions, 10-11 season he was also selected to the league's best team three teams. However, in those years, the Hawks have always belonged to the top eight teams that have no hope of winning the championship, and in the summer of 2016, Horford became a free agent, he joined the Boston Celtics, and the Green Army also spent thousands of dollars to give Horford, who was already old at the time, a four-year maximum salary contract.
Because the Celtics are not particularly short of scorers in the squad, coupled with the increase in age, Horford consciously protects himself, appears to be exceptionally healthy, and the data has declined significantly compared with his peak, so many fans are dissatisfied with Horford. But the value of the latter is difficult to reflect through the data, Horford averaged 14 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5 assists per game in the 16-17 season, he gave up the ball, more responsible for defense and high strategy. In the subsequent 17-18 season, Horford averaged 12.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, in fact, although Horford's data is more average many times, he can help his team in many ways, whether it is inside attack, long-range shooting, blocking, passing, rebounding protection or defense, Horford has done a very good job. More crucially, in the first two years of Horford joining the Celtics, the Celtics have successfully reached the division finals, and this is still done in the case of the team's lack of major generals and the lineup is not neat enough, so Horford has also received a nickname of "ball blindness appraiser", which is recognized by the outside world.
The Celtics were mired in civil strife in the 18-19 season, and in the case of Kelly Irving and Gordon Hayward both announcing their comebacks, the Celtics did not rise but fell, and they were easily solved by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round of the East. Horford averaged 13.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game this season, which was a due diligence in terms of personal performance, but that summer he was quite surprised to jump out of the player option to become free. What was even more unexpected was that the Philadelphia 76ers actually offered Horford, who was 33 years old at the time, a super contract of 4 years and 109 million US dollars, which was looked down upon by the outside world. It is also true that when Horford and Joel Embiid are on the field at the same time, Tobias Harris needs to play small forwards, and there is a Simmons on the court, the 76ers can not open the offensive space at all, the whole team looks very uncomfortable, and the 76ers are easily eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
So in the summer of 2020, in order to deal with Horford, the 76ers had to send him to the Thunder with a first-round pick, and because of the rebuilding period, the salary space was very abundant, and there was a draft pick in return, the Thunder were happy to eat Horford's contract. Objectively speaking, last season, Horford performed very well, in the 28 games for the Thunder, he could get 14.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists, but the Thunder wanted to rebuild after all, focus on cultivating young players, and did not want Horford to destroy his own bad plan, so the second half of the season simply abandoned him. It wasn't until last summer that the Celtics wanted to deal with Kemba Walker, and they also found the Thunder, and Horford took the opportunity to return to the Green Army.
To say that the tree moves the dead and the dead live, this is really an eternal truth, and Horford has become the key puzzle piece for the team after returning to the Celtics. When the Celtics are in a good line-up this season, the starting five are Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jason Tatum, Al Horford and Robert Williams. This lineup of outside trio can change defenses indefinitely, covering the sweep of the whole field; Horford crouches under the basket to protect the frame and play his one-on-one single defense experience advantage; and Robert Williams is a bit like Draymond Green in the East, theoretically from the opposing point guard to the center, the reason why the Celtics' record has soared is directly related to their defensive efficiency in the league. Although Robert Williams' injury is a huge blow to the Celtics, Horford and Theth will try to fill the gap, and the Celtics are still very competitive.