Celtics' Al Horford makes history with a stunning stat line
Even as the basketball world's focus remains on Thursday's NBA trade deadline, veteran big man Al Horford has quietly gone about rewriting the history books.
During the Celtics' win over the Hawks on Wednesday, Horford put up a stat line that no center in NBA history had ever registered, let alone a 37-year-old player. The versatile Horford stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, four blocks, two steals and four made threes.
After the game, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla and star guard Derrick White lavished praise upon Horford for his unique ability to impact the game in a multitude of ways.
"This is the ultimate compliment -- you know what you're getting," Mazzulla said of Horford, via Yahoo Sports.
"Al's amazing," Derrick White told NBC Sports Boston. "That's all you can really say about Al. He does so many things for us on the court and off the court that just help us win games -- he's amazing."
Fans who've followed Horford's career would acknowledge that his evolution into a reliable perimeter shooter is a feather in his cap. When the former Gator entered the league in 2007, he was attempting 0.1 threes per game, and those numbers increased to 0.5 by the 2014-15 season. To acclimatize to the modern NBA, Horford gradually increased his three-ball attempts to the point where he consistently started taking over five shots by the 2020 season.
Last season, Horford attempted 5.2 threes per game while shooting an impressive 44 percent. The trend has continued this season as he's shooting over 40 percent from deep.
If the Celtics (39-12) were to hang banner number 18 this summer, you'd better believe Horford would play a vital role.
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