The ovation from the TD Garden crowd was the best description of Dominican Al Horford’s game this Wednesday. Thousands of people rose from their seats to honor the 37-year-old veteran who competed with the hunger of a rookie and who scored 22 points, fifteen rebounds and six three-pointers to send the Celtics to the NBA Eastern Conference finals.
Horford became the oldest player capable of scoring more than fifteen points, ten rebounds and five three-pointers in a playoff game and led the Celtics’ 113-98 victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game five of the series. second round of this tie.
The Dominican forward, a starter in Joe Mazzulla’s quintet due to the loss of Kristaps Porzingis due to injury, showed his face with one of the best performances of his career.
Porzingis himself posted a message on social media about his colleague Horford’s performance in Wednesday’s game.
“Come onoooo. Al is unreal. I respect @Al_Horford,” Porzingis wrote when retweeting a message about the player.
🔥🔥🔥🔥 Lets goooooooo. Al is unreal. Respect @Al_Horford
— Kristaps Porzingis (@kporzee) May 16, 2024
He had already shown an extraordinary level in 2022, when he was one step away from the ring in the Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Two seasons later, a few days after turning 38, he took over one of the temples of the NBA, the TD Garden in Boston.
He retired with 48 seconds left in the fourth quarter and received a long ovation from his crowd. Applause and chants, some even of ‘MVP’, to honor an example of professionalism on and off the field.
How do you live #NBAPlayoffs?
As it does @Al_Horford 😤pic.twitter.com/gpuAbQfIUA
— NBA Broad (@NBALatam) May 16, 2024
“It’s special when you hear the Garden. It’s something I don’t take for granted. The energy of our fans, the way they sang, I felt a lot of connection. That encourages me and the team,” Horford said at the post-match press conference. game.
“I want to contribute energy and the boys continued to trust me. The boys did a great job to find me and have confidence in me,” he added.
“Tonight I felt like I said a lot of things in the time-outs. We all wanted to win. In the past it happened to us that we couldn’t close the series and today I am very proud of this,” he concluded.
The Dominican is now in his third consecutive Conference finals.
“It is special to reach the third Eastern finals in a row. It means a lot to me, I am proud of the work we are putting in. We continue working and thinking about what is best for the group. We know there is a lot to do, but it is another step forward “Horford said.
In addition to his spectacular offensive performance, with six triples connected, Horford also excelled on the other side of the court with a great defensive performance against Darius Garland, fourteen years younger than him.
He was not given any space and Garland did not exceed eleven points and nine assists, with four of 17 field goals.
“Everyone leads differently, when he plays this way it’s contagious. You saw Al and the way he knows how to impact his teammates,” said his coach Joe Mazzulla.
“Al did a great job, as did the rest of his teammates,” he added.
The Celtics are already in the NBA Eastern finals, in which they will face the winner of the series between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers, who lead the New Yorkers 3-2.
The Eastern finals will begin on Sunday, if the Knicks finish the series on Friday, or on Tuesday, if the Pacers force a Game 7.
Andrea Montolivo
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