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

For the primary time since Recreation 5 of the NBA Finals, we witnessed Al Horford’s greatness on the court docket. Horford was the load-bearing wall that held all the pieces 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 night time marked Horford’s first preseason recreation, and we have already got some insights into how Joe Mazzulla and his teaching employees might 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. Throughout the 2024 common season, Horford performed 908 minutes because the lone massive, 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 massive when wanted.

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

Final season, the Horford-Porziņģis mixture confirmed robust defensive synergy, their presence collectively introduced the Celtics’ defensive ranking right down to 110.13—in comparison with 113.59 with solely Porziņģis on the ground. Nevertheless, whereas the defensive affect was clear, the offensive ranking 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 massive man does with ease. This creates potential spacing points when Horford shares the ground with one other non-shooting massive.

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

It’s exhausting 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 remains to be a killer whale…

Though the offense turns into tougher with one other massive 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 will 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 change stays elite, his drop protection reveals some limitations, and opponents are beginning to exploit it.

I first seen this in the course of the 2023 playoffs, when the Atlanta Hawks prolonged the collection to 6 video games by focusing on Horford’s drop protection with Trae Younger. After all, there’s no disgrace in that—Younger is an elite offensive expertise.

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

The drop protection may be more practical with Kornet on the ground, however that brings us again to the double-big lineup dilemma. Possibly the defensive increase 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 additionally offensively, to assume the sport, to play a sure approach.” Possibly the double-big strategy is a part of that new problem.

After spending many seasons because the lone massive, Horford has proven that he may play alongside one other heart. Actually, he did it so effectively 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.