Al Horford is well aware of how impactful he is when he plays against some of the Boston Celtics‘ biggest rivals. Horford’s developed a reputation for making life difficult for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid.
Barstool Sports’ Dan Greenberg wrote a post about Horford’s defense on both stars.
“Not enough is made about how NBA Champion Al Horford is truly the boogeyman for both Embiid and Giannis. They probably cannot wait until he retires,” Greenberg wrote via his X account.
Not enough is made about how NBA Champion Al Horford is truly the boogeyman for both Embiid and Giannis. They probably cannot wait until he retires https://t.co/ZY2p9iLl5g
Horford caught wind of Greenberg’s words and showed his appreciation by liking the post. Greenberg then publicized Horford liking his post.
Horford has an established history of being able to fluster both Embiid and Giannis. Especially in playoff series, which has played a role in how the Celtics have beaten both the Bucks and Sixers.
Embiid has never beaten the Celtics once in the postseason. The damage was bad enough that the Sixers took Horford away from the Celtics when they signed him to a big contract in 2019. However they got rid of him when those two did not play well together.
Giannis has beaten Horford and the Celtics, but the 2019 Celtics were notoriously dysfunctional. The other two times, Horford and the Celtics emerged victorious. Horford is 38 and doesn’t have much time left, but by the time he retires, they may be past their prime.
Because he’s 38 years old and won a title on the biggest stage, retiring doesn’t sound too unreasonable for Horford. However, he made it clear shortly after the Celtics won a title that he does not plan to do so. He even commented directly on the speculation.·
Asked him if he was indeed coming back for the 2024-25 @celtics season? And @JaredWeissNBA asked him about how long he wants to keep on playing…
“I don’t know how that all got started, to be honest,” Horford told WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche on June 23. “I’m coming back, that’s the plan.”
“I feel good, I want to keep it going, and I know that I have to be cautious with how I approach the season and how I go throughout the season,” he said. “But I feel like we did a really good job. Our Celtics medical group did a really good job managing me this season.”
Horford will enter the second year of a two-year, $19.5 million contract. The Celtics will try to keep him as long as he produces at a high enough level. There’s no telling how long that will be.
The Celtics have made an effort to limit Horford’s role in the regular season by resting him on back-to-backs. This has helped Horford stay fresh in the postseason. When Kristaps Porzingis went down, Horford did an admirable job filling in for him.
Coming off an extended run with Porzingis out until potentially 2025, the Celtics will likely have to strengthen their efforts to conserve him. Luckily, keeping Xavier Tillman, Luke Kornet, and Neemias Queta fills out their frontcourt rotation enough that they won’t need Horford in the regular season as much as they once did.
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