The Boston Celtics kept their season alive on Tuesday with a massive 116-99 win in the NBA Playoffs against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. They now get to go home and try and extend this series even more by forcing a Game 6 on the Heat's home floor. Crucial to their success will be veteran center Al Horford. Horford's numbers have been down this season but he is still an important piece to this team and their potential championship hopes. The Celtics need Horford's ability to space the floor with his three-point shooting. This postseason, Horford became the first center in playoff history to have at least 145 made three-pointers as per the Twitter page StatMuse.
At age 36, Al Horford is one of the older players in the league. But if the Celtics want to keep their season alive, they'll need another strong game from him in Game 5. Horford finished Game 4 with 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and one blocked shot. He shot 4-7 from the field, 3-6 from three-point range and knocked down one of his two free-throws.
Throughout the NBA Playoffs so far, Horford has been averaging 6.8 points per game, 6.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.8 blocked shots with shooting splits of 38.7 percent shooting from the field, 31 percent shooting from the three-point line and 75 percent from the free-throw line. Again, although his efficiency is down, he is still valuable to this team.
A five-time All-Star, Horford is in his fifth season with the Celtics, second consecutive after having played for the franchise before from 2016-2019.