Friday night against the Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a pretty typical night, dropping 30 points and 11 rebounds on the Celtics. Nobody can stop that man when he’s going downhill, but Al Horford remains one of the better guys at slowing him down.
Perhaps that’s why Giannis settled for a late 4th quarter 3-point attempt rather than taking the ball into the paint. Heading down to the other side of the court, Horford showed Giannis how it was done and drained a 3-pointer that put the Celtics in command for the rest of the game.
This is just one more example of what makes Al Horford special and made me want to write a general appreciation post about him.
In this his age 38 season, Al Horford is averaging 9.7 pts, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. While stats only tell a small part of Horford’s story, I thought it would be a fun exercise to compare this season to some other great bigs as they aged. This is by no means a comprehensive list, just the names that came to my mind.
The gold standard appears to be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who averaged 23.4 pts, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists at 38. Just an amazing career.
Some others to consider:
- Robert Parish averaged 14.1 pts, 8.9 rebounds, and 0.9 assists
- Tim Duncan averaged 13.9 pts, 9.1 rebounds, and 3 assists
- Dirk Nowitzki averaged 14.2 pts, 6.5 rebounds, and 1.5 assists
- Kevin Garnett averaged 6.9 pts, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists
- Brook Lopez (at age 36, 2 years younger than Al) is averaging 11.6 pts, 5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists
KG appears to be the closest comparison, which makes sense given their unselfish nature and focus on defense. Of course, comparisons to prior eras are always tricky since the game has evolved over time (KG would certainly be bombing 3’s in this era).
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
In fact, Al Horford’s career has been defined by the way he evolved his game to keep up with the changing ecosystem of the NBA over his career. Both he and Brook Lopez started their careers out as more traditional, back-to-the-basket big men. Now they’re both known as pioneers as high-volume stretch bigs.
So putting that all aside, I’ll go back to an earlier point. The impact that Horford has had on the Boston Celtics over the years simply can’t be measured with stats alone. Going all the way back to when he first signed in Boston as a free agent, he was a huge part of 2016-17 Isaiah Thomas led team that finished with the best record in the East. He was also critical to the success of the 2017-18 team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals in Jayson Tatum’s rookie year (despite the absence of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward).
Playing the what-if game is not always useful, but I can’t help but wonder how much impact that early success had on the careers of Tatum and Jaylen Brown. They got an early taste of playing at the highest of levels. On the other hand, that earlier-than-expected success may have led to the divisions within the team in 2018-19 that may have prompted Al Horford to walk away (well, that and the huge contract the Sixers gave him). There are butterfly-effect implications all around those years, but perhaps God blessed the broken road that led Al Horford to where he is today: an NBA champion for the Boston Celtics.
Jayson Tatum has called him his favorite teammate. I don’t have to squint too hard to imagine Horford having a long second career as an NBA coach if he chooses to go that way. I’d certainly like to see him stick around as a player for as long as he wants to play and I hope to see his number retired in the rafters someday.
Watching Al Horford play for the Boston Celtics is an absolute gift that keeps on giving.
