Al Horford has been in the NBA for about 15 seasons. He has been to multiple playoffs throughout his career, but this run he is on is different. Horford currently has had Uncle Al playing like it’s the 2015-16 season. That was one of Horford’s best seasons. He led the Atlanta Hawks to an impressive record of 60-22. They were the best team in the Eastern Conference at that time. The Hawks were primed to reach the NBA finals and even possibly go on to win the entire thing to hoist up the Larry O’Brien trophy. That dream never came as the Hawks would fall in back to back series (2015 & 2016) to the Cleveland Cavaliers (Cavs) team led by the big three: LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love. The Cavs would go on and eliminate Horford from making his first finals.
Horford and the Hawks would go 0-8 against LeBron in both of those series. He later left and started building something special in his first stint with the Boston Celtics. His first stint in Boston had him playing against the Kings of the Eastern Conference ( Kyrie, Lebron, and K.Love), but this time he could taste the NBA finals. In 2018, the Celtics had everything that they needed in order to pursue an NBA Championship.
The young team of Terry Rozier III, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and the vet Horford took Lebron to the best of seven games.
Irving and Gordon Hayward were both out with injuries, leaving Lebron to lead the Cavs to their fourth straight finals against the Golden State Warriors.
As a free agent, Horford left deciding to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers and become part of the team of Ben Simmons, JJ Redick, Tobias Harris, and Joel Embiid. His run there still did not lead him to a seat in the NBA Finals.
He was traded to the Oklahoma City (OKC) Thunder after his numbers dropped once joining Philly and this was his chance to remind the league he was not done in the league and nor was ready for retirement.
In order to bring back Uncle Al for what Brad Stevens — former coach of the Boston Celtics — believes to be a championship contender, he traded Kemba Walker to OKC for Horford and Moses Brown.
Playoff game number 141 was everything especially after seeing Horford turn the clock back in game 6 in the previous series against the defending champions the Milwaukee Bucks. Game141 signified that Horford was going to make the NBA finals for the first time in his career. Horford leads the league in most playoffs, with 141 without a final appearance.
A former teammate of his from the Atlanta Hawks, Paul Millsap, now has the highest amount of playoff games without reaching the finals. He has played about 130 playoff games without a final appearance. Paul George is also on that list with 108 games played without an appearance.
Despite Horford not making the finals before, he has reached the Eastern Conference Championship with the Boston Celtics twice. His first was in 2018 when they played the Cavaliers. Making it with the team, that he has seen when they were boys among men in the league. That same veteran experience is exactly the weight on his shoulders that he carries. Let’s see if the wisdom of Uncle Al will lead the Boston Celtics to their next championship victory.
If Horford can complete this task of winning four games to become an NBA champion he will also receive some more money for his contract. He has the chance to add the incentives of possibly an extra $7 million for the 2022-23 NBA season. As of right now just by making the finals, Horford’s contract went from around $14 million to $19 million. The Celtics are already on board to take Horford’s contract for next season.
Written by Semetrius Holmes
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
CBS: Celtics’ Al Horford reacts to making first NBA Finals after snapping record streak: ‘It’s just special’
NBC Sports: Why Al Horford expected Celtics to get to NBA Finals
NBC Sports: Celtics plan to fully guarantee Al Horford’s contract, regardless of NBA Finals result
Inset Image Courtesy of Erik Drost’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Rob Masefield’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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