Isaiah Thomas needs to 'get used to' Al Horford's ability to lead the fast break

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Boston Celtics notes: Isaiah Thomas needs to 'get used to' Al Horford's ability to lead the fast break




Boston Celtics' Al Horford during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016, in Amherst, Mass. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)


Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com


on October 07, 2016 at 5:45 PM



WALTHAM -- If he knew before how well Al Horford pushes the ball in transition, Isaiah Thomas did not admit it Friday afternoon. With a smile, Thomas said he only remembered one thing about Horford before the big man joined the Boston Celtics this summer.

"I didn't pay attention to Al when he was on the Hawks," Thomas said after a Celtics practice, "other than when he was doubling teaming me the every time."

Now that the two are teammates, Thomas notices Horford can initiate a fast break after grabbing a defensive rebound. The Celtics hoped David Lee could provide that skill last year, but Horford does it (and most other things) on another level.

One example:


"That's a skill he really has and it's special since he's not just looking for the guards. He's looking to push it himself and we just have to learn to run the lanes," Thomas said. "I've got to get used to it because I'm used to coming back to the ball all the time. And he's good at making the right play. He gets the rebound and brings it. I've got to trust in him and I know he's going to make the right play. I just have to get used to it. I haven't really had a guy, other than DeMarcus Cousins, that can get the ball and go all the way down and make a play for himself or somebody else."

Overreaction to the wrist

Thomas laughed Friday while discussing how much public attention his mildly sprained left wrist received. After leaving Thursday night's win against the Charlotte Hornets, he could be seen with a wrap on the injury.

"My mom called me," he said. "I'm like, 'What are you talking about?"

In other words, Thomas' wrist feels fine. He doesn't consider it a serious issue at all.

"I'm good," he said. "It wasn't swollen so I'm alright. I iced it a lot last night and wore a wrap on it on the plane. So it's fine."

Green returning

Stevens expects Gerald Green to make his preseason debut Saturday against the Charlotte Hornets. The shooting guard missed the first two exhibition games with a hip flexor.

With Green back in the mix, the competition for perimeter minutes in the second unit should be interesting. Marcus Smart will play a lot, Terry Rozier has impressed people during training camp, and rookie Jaylen Brown has shown a lot of potential in doses.

"I think we'll work on (rotation decisions) appropriately," Stevens said. "We're 10 days in right now, or whatever the case may be. We'll have our third game in (five) days with a pretty significant amount of travel when you consider the bus, plane and everything else. I'm more worried about, right now, making sure that we're playing well than who's playing, everybody is fitting in to where they're supposed to be on the court with whoever they are playing with, and every group playing well. I've got a pretty good idea of what the rotations will look like, at least the early part of the rotations, we've been working on that for a while."



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