On April 18, Beijing time, the Celtics welcomed the Nets in the first game of the first round of the playoff series, and relied on Jason Tatum to win the Nets 115-114 with a 360-degree turn at the last minute. After this game, the Celtics also won the opening goal in the first round of the series.
Throughout the game, Jason Tatum had 31 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds on 9-of-18 shooting in 45 minutes, and Jaylen Brown was also able to have 23 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks on 9-of-19 shooting in 40 minutes, in addition to Marcus Smart, who scored 20 points.
But in this game, Al Horford is undoubtedly the player who surprised Celtic fans the most. With up to 41 minutes on the field, Al Horford averaged 20 points and 15 rebounds on 8-of-13 shooting, and he was even able to perform on 2-of-2 shooting from beyond the three-point line.
That statistic also made Al Horford the 13th player in league history to be over 35 and at least 20 points and 15 rebounds in the playoffs, while the other 12 were All Hall of Famers.
As a veteran player who once left the Celtics, Horford finally got a chance to return to the Celtics after the "Wandering" 76ers and Thunder and other teams, but surprisingly, Horford, who has become a veteran player, can still play the role of starting big forward in this playoff game against the Nets and get up to 41 minutes of playing time.
What's more, Al Horford can indeed repay the trust of the coaching staff led by Amy Yuduca with his extremely efficient performance. In the game, Horford can still have an extremely efficient offensive and defensive performance, and this will undoubtedly continue to be one of the advantages of this Celtic team in the next playoff game.