The Boston Celtics will be facing the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the playoffs, and although the latter lost Victor Oladipo to a season-ending injury, they are still a pretty good team, especially in the painted area.

Celtics forward Gordon Hayward acknowledges the advantage the Pacers have because of their bigs, and in his most recent blog post, said that Boston's frontcourt players will need to match their opponents' intensity and physicality in order to advance to the Conference Semifinals.

“I’m really looking forward to this first-round matchup with Indiana.

“Our bigs are going to be important for us, especially defensively, in this first series. The Pacers play big a lot and they’ve got some big guys who can do a lot of damage. Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner and Thad Young are all guys who are bruisers and who can really exploit mismatches, too. When you switch on them, they do a good job attacking in the post.”

One Celtics big man that will definitely have his hands full against the Pacers is Al Horford. He's expected to play a lot of minutes in order to help neutralize Indiana's advantage in the post, a responsibility Hayward is confident he can handle.

“Al Horford has kind of been our rock all year, and we’re definitely going to need him to be that in the postseason. He’s a huge part of what we do on the defensive end. When he’s blocking shots, or making shots difficult for guys, grabbing the rebound and starting the break, that’s when he’s at his best. We’re definitely going to count on him to exploit some mismatches in the halfcourt offense as well. He’s a guy who can take advantage when teams switch, with his postgame as well as his ability to stretch the floor.”

Horford was one of the key players for the Celtics during their postseason run last year, and he will once again play a similar role as Boston guns for the championship. He's facing a tall task ahead of the team's matchup against the Pacers, but he's a seasoned veteran. He knows what to expect and he will find out a way to be effective on both ends of the floor.