Good old Al Horford has more than one trick up his sleeve! The arrival of double MVP Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets is always an event for interiors wishing to measure themselves against the Serbian genius. The Boston pivot, for his part, pulled out of the game by relying on a very specific asset of his game, the 3-point shot, and shone in this exercise by returning a superb 6/8, his best total in a career regular season game.
If he has steadily progressed behind the arc for seven years, striving to follow the evolution of the game, “Big Al” assured that it was the context of the match that pushed him to draw more than reason .
“More than anything else, it was the way the Nuggets were playing. They were pressuring Jayson and some of our guys, and I had a few chances. The guys did a good job finding me and it was just good shooting positions. I had to take them”, did he declare.
A model of professionalism
Al Horford is surfing on a good start to the exercise in this register with an interesting 16/38 (42.1% success rate), in line with recent seasons, except for his average of 3-point shots attempted by match continues to increase. This is, for example, the first time that he has taken more 3-point shots than 2-point shots at the start of the season.
His 6/8 against Denver was an opportunity to measure the progress made since 2015.
“It was a big adjustment. This summer, it’s something that we studied and I understood that I had to work even more on this point, to be more comfortable, and we really worked on it. Mentally, I’m figuring out that I need to take more 3-pointers. It’s like that. The game keeps changing and for me it’s about finding a way to change on my side too”.
Boston won 131-112 and Al Horford was a key element in this victory, alongside the irremovable Jaylen Brown, close to the triple-double and Jayson Tatum, author of a point at 34 points but who wanted to return tribute to his veteran teammate whom he now knows for a long time.
“He is without doubt one of the best teammates I have ever had, at any level. He is extremely selfless. He still wants the best for the team, and six years later the fact that he’s still the same person and at 36 he’s still a starter and shows how much he takes taking care of your body every day is impressive. Nobody is guaranteed to play for 16 years in this league. And he is always at the top of his game.
| Al Horford | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2007-08 | ATL | 81 | 31 | 49.9 | 0.0 | 73.1 | 3.1 | 6.6 | 9.7 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 10.1 |
| 2008-09 | ATL | 67 | 34 | 52.5 | 0.0 | 72.7 | 2.2 | 7.2 | 9.3 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 1.4 | 11.5 |
| 2009-10 | ATL | 81 | 35 | 55.1 | 100.0 | 78.9 | 2.9 | 7.0 | 9.9 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 14.2 |
| 2010-11 | ATL | 77 | 35 | 55.7 | 50.0 | 79.8 | 2.4 | 7.0 | 9.3 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 15.3 |
| 2011-12 | ATL | 11 | 32 | 55.3 | 0.0 | 73.3 | 2.4 | 4.6 | 7.0 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 12.4 |
| 2012-13 | ATL | 74 | 37 | 54.3 | 50.0 | 64.4 | 2.6 | 7.6 | 10.2 | 3.2 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 17.4 |
| 2013-14 | ATL | 29 | 33 | 56.7 | 36.4 | 68.2 | 2.3 | 6.1 | 8.4 | 2.6 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 18.6 |
| 2014-15 | ATL | 76 | 31 | 53.8 | 30.6 | 75.9 | 1.7 | 5.4 | 7.2 | 3.2 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 15.2 |
| 2015-16 | ATL | 82 | 32 | 50.5 | 34.4 | 79.8 | 1.8 | 5.5 | 7.3 | 3.2 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 15.2 |
| 2016-17 | BOS | 68 | 32 | 47.3 | 35.5 | 80.0 | 1.4 | 5.4 | 6.8 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 14.0 |
| 2017-18 | BOS | 72 | 32 | 48.9 | 42.9 | 78.3 | 1.4 | 5.9 | 7.4 | 4.7 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 12.9 |
| 2018-19 | BOS | 68 | 29 | 53.5 | 36.0 | 82.1 | 1.8 | 5.0 | 6.7 | 4.2 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 13.6 |
| 2019-20 | PHL | 67 | 30 | 45.0 | 35.0 | 76.3 | 1.5 | 5.3 | 6.8 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 11.9 |
| 2020-21 | OKAY | 28 | 28 | 45.0 | 36.8 | 81.8 | 1.0 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 14.2 |
| 2021-22 | BOS | 69 | 29 | 46.7 | 33.6 | 84.2 | 1.6 | 6.1 | 7.7 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 10.2 |
| 2022-23 | BOS | 9 | 31 | 55.4 | 42.1 | 60.0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 10.1 |
| Total | 959 | 32 | 51.5 | 36.1 | 75.9 | 2.0 | 6.1 | 8.2 | 3.3 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 13.6 | |
