The Boston Celtics are headed back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2009, clearing a hurdle in the Eastern Conference Finals that caused them to stumble in three of the last four seasons. It will be the first Finals appearance for everyone on the roster, as the young, homegrown core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart finally shook off questions of whether there was a ceiling on how much they could accomplish together.
For these young Celtics, it’s a reminder of the importance of patience and timing, as the stars aligned for their run through the beasts of the East: an all-time 7-seed in Brooklyn, the reigning champs in Milwaukee, and the 1-seed in Miami. Their young core all took strides forward together, with Tatum leaping into an All-NBA slot, Smart becoming the Defensive Player of the Year, and Brown asserting himself as a secondary All-Star to fuel this run. Around them, other young players all coming into their own like Grant and Robert Williams, as well as new addition Derrick White.
Joining this group of all 20-somethings in their first Finals is Al Horford, who will turn 36 between Games 1 and 2. He is the oldest player of the team’s regular rotation by nearly eight years (Smart is 28) and as such brings a unique perspective and presence to the locker room. He was once like Tatum and Brown, a young player who had never seen a season end before the postseason, but where the young believe their time is inevitable, Horford is a reminder that Finals run is never a guarantee.
On Thursday night in San Francisco, Horford will see his name officially come off the top of the all-time list of NBA players with the most playoff games played without a Finals appearance. It will be the culmination of a journey in which Horford has always been a winning player — two championships in college, 14 out of 15 NBA seasons in the playoffs (his only blemish came last year on a Thunder team that actively did not want to make the postseason), and 12 out of 15 NBA seasons above .500 — but never got past the conference finals. Three times his season ended in the penultimate series, all three coming to an end at the hands of LeBron James’ Cavaliers, whose dominance over the East saw challengers rise and fall for a decade — his former Hawks teammates, Paul Millsap and Joe Johnson, will now assume the top two spots on that list.
The result of those exits is that Horford has found himself faced with the cruel truth of the modern NBA, where legacies are defined by championships, and being merely “very good” for a long time rarely garners the respect it should from the masses. This year’s Celtics run has been a reminder of everything Horford brings to a team, and also what most every squad he’s been on until now has been lacking.
Horford has improved his play from the regular season in every facet during these playoffs, stepping up in the absence of Robert Williams to become the switch-everything anchor of Boston’s hellacious defense that led them to the Finals. Against three unique challenges in the Nets, Bucks, and Heat, the Celtic defense has stood firm, in no small part due to the activity level of Horford, who has managed to maintain his frenetic energy level despite a gigantic minutes load of 36.8 per game (up from 29.1 during the regular season). Game 7 against Miami put his unique skillset on full display, as a pair of early defensive plays set the tone for Boston’s early run to a lead.
Since he came in the league, Horford has been an underrated shot blocker despite his size relative to other centers, because his timing and long arms for make him a tremendous rim protector. That coupled with his quickness allows him to contest shots all over the court, and Boston has unlocked another level of their defense by deploying him both as the center and at the four next to Robert Williams, taking advantage of his malleable skillset and switchability.
On offense, he has been a more efficient scorer at every level and a more aggressive shooter, shooting 50 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from three on 4.4 attempts per game in this postseason. His Game 4 performance in Milwaukee was the high water mark of this postseason, but throughout the playoffs, he has hit timely shots and provided some needed floor-spacing, particularly when Boston goes to its top defensive units.
None of this is particularly new for Horford — albeit his three-point percentage is his second-highest of his playoff career — but for one of the first times in his career, he finds himself only asked to do what he does best. Those early Hawks teams had an elite isolation scorer in Johnson but lacked the secondary creator or scorer these Celtics have in Brown, while the late-era teams had a great team concept but lacked the high-level isolation scorer like Tatum. The previous Celtics teams Horford was on didn’t have this version of either and faltered for it. The Sixers were the Sixers.
A perfect storm of internal development and timely additions has pushed Boston into championship contention, and it’s clear that Horford feels that difference. His energy level is not that of a 35-year-old and he looks like a different player than the one we saw the last two years Philly or OKC when he was appearing to slow down. As a result, he’s playing more minutes than he has since the 2011 postseason.
On a team full of younger players who surely feel these opportunities will be aplenty, Horford knows all too well how fleeting they can be and seems determined not to let this particular chance slip. While his young teammates glide across the court almost effortlessly, bursting with youthful exuberance and athleticism, you can see Horford gritting his teeth and pumping his arms, trying to get every ounce of energy out of his body, knowing there might never be a better opportunity to reel in that elusive ring.
His teammates can’t help but notice that and feel that sense of urgency themselves. As Brown noted after their Game 7 win in Miami, he was thrilled to see Horford get this moment, offering an appreciation for all the veteran big man has done for him and the team, on and off the floor.
However this ends, Horford will at least have finally got his chance to play on the league’s grandest stage. A place a winning player belongs.
