What did we learn from Al Horford’s first game back?

For the primary time since Sport 5 of the NBA Finals, we witnessed Al Horford’s greatness on the court docket. Horford was the load-bearing wall that held every part collectively over the last playoffs. Whereas Kristaps Porziņģis was out, Horford ensured that the elite protection held agency and the spacing remained intact. With out Horford, the Celtics would possibly nonetheless be tied with the Los Angeles Lakers at 17 NBA titles. How unhappy is that?

Nonetheless, the previous is the previous, and a brand new season is about to start. Final evening marked Horford’s first preseason recreation, and we have already got some insights into how Joe Mazzulla and his teaching workers could plan to make use of him this season.

Doubts concerning the double-big lineups.

Final season, Horford’s main function was to again up Porziņģis, with Luke Kornet serving because the third choice on this two-man rotation. Through the 2024 common season, Horford performed 908 minutes because the lone large, 587 minutes alongside Porziņģis, and 245 minutes with Kornet. That’s one of many cause Horford is exclusive, his capability to play and carry out alongside one other large when wanted.

Earlier than the sport, Horford had nothing however nice issues to say about Celtics’ different large males:

Final season, the Horford-Porziņģis mixture confirmed robust defensive synergy, their presence collectively introduced the Celtics’ defensive score all the way down to 110.13—in comparison with 113.59 with solely Porziņģis on the ground. Nevertheless, whereas the defensive influence was clear, the offensive score remained secure, and the spacing wasn’t as elite as with the beginning 5.

All through his profession, Horford has developed right into a dependable three-point shooter, however he doesn’t supply the identical spacing worth as an elite shooter like Porziņģis. Horford can also’t persistently shoot from two steps behind the arc, which the Latvian large man does with ease. This creates potential spacing points when Horford shares the ground with one other non-shooting large.

A play from final evening illustrates this concern completely: Xavier Tillman set a pin-down display for Jordan Walsh whereas Jakob Poeltl stayed low, blocking the driving lane. On the alternative aspect, Horford was only one move away, however Chris Boucher selected to remain within the paint, specializing in taking away Derrick White’s drive slightly than guarding Horford carefully.

It’s arduous to say how typically we’ll proceed to see these double-big lineups, however they don’t appear to suit seamlessly with the ideas of Mazzulla Ball. For the Celtics to excel, they want the house to assault seals successfully.

Al Horford continues to be a killer whale…

Though the offense turns into more difficult with one other large on the ground, Horford can nonetheless assault mismatches. To get him concerned, the Celtics ran a number of empty-side pick-and-rolls for him, which generated good alternatives for the veteran.

…However he may be hunted, too!

As a Celtics fan, I’ve been involved about Horford’s drop protection for a few seasons now. Whereas his capability to modify stays elite, his drop protection reveals some limitations, and opponents are beginning to exploit it.

I first seen this throughout the 2023 playoffs, when the Atlanta Hawks prolonged the sequence to 6 video games by concentrating on Horford’s drop protection with Trae Younger. In fact, there’s no disgrace in that—Younger is an elite offensive expertise.

Nevertheless, final evening, we noticed much less gifted gamers going at Horford, which raises some considerations. Why do the Celtics proceed to depend on drop protection with Horford once we know the way efficient he’s in switch-all schemes?

The drop protection is likely to be simpler with Kornet on the ground, however that brings us again to the double-big lineup dilemma. Possibly the defensive enhance from the double-big look outweighs the spacing challenges. Maybe that’s what Joe Mazzulla had in thoughts when he talked about Horford’s capability to maintain reinventing his recreation.

Horford talked about after the sport that Joe Mazzulla “retains difficult them not solely defensively, but in addition offensively, to assume the sport, to play a sure approach.” Possibly the double-big method is a part of that new problem.

After spending many seasons because the lone large, Horford has proven that he may also play alongside one other middle. In truth, he did it so properly throughout his NCAA days that the Florida Gators received back-to-back titles with him. Let’s hope the Celtics can obtain the identical future this season.