Horford, Irving starting to get on same page

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/20171025/celts-horford-irving-starting-to-get-on-same-page




Celts’ Horford, Irving starting to get on same page





Celtics center Al Horford drives past the Knicks' Kristaps Porzingis in the third quarter on Tuesday night. 
[AP Photo]





By SCOTT SOUZA / The MetroWest Daily News
Posted Oct 25, 2017 at 8:30 PM






BOSTON — Al Horford admitted heading into last year’s playoffs that it took him until the end of the regular season to truly find his comfort zone on the parquet in Boston.


One can only imagine what a thinking man’s player was thinking last week after he spent a full training camp and preseason getting used to 11 new bodies, including two new All-Stars in Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. And then, in the first game, Horford had to adjust again on the fly when Hayward suffered a leg injury that will keep him out at least most of the season.


For someone like Horford, who prides himself on finding ways to help his teammates over his own self-interest, the wheels in his head had to be spinning on overdrive.


Yet, things seemed to slow down for the four-time All-Star in Tuesday night’s 110-89 blowout of the New York Knicks. He found his spots on the floor for 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting. He found his teammates for five assists. He found the ball off the rim for 13 rebounds going against the massive frontcourt of Enes Kanter and Kristaps Porzingis.


And, perhaps most important, he appeared to find a rhythm with Irving. For the first time the remaining two All-Stars on the team played the two-man game to perfection to extend the lead in the third quarter.


“It’s a work-in-progress,” Horford said of the duo. “The more that we play with each other, the more comfortable that we’ll be. That’s something that’s still not where I’d like it to be. But we’re making progress.”


Learning what Irving lives for, and vice versa, is a key to the pair unlocking the potential of each other this season, and perhaps the potential of the team.


“The adjustment is still happening,” Irving said. “I told him in the third quarter that we’re going to continue to get better. We’re going to continue to learn one another. Once we get that understanding, we’ll be a lot better because I think there’s still times where he doesn’t want to get in my way, and I don’t want to get in his way.


“We’re at that point. Which is natural. You understand that. But the exciting part is that we’re still getting to know one another. It will only continue to get better.”


Irving said that he’s played with frontcourt players — without mentioning a certain No. 23 in Cleveland by name — willing to push the ball up the floor off the rebound, but never a center or power forward do it quite like Horford.


It’s that position versatility — on both ends of the floor — that has made the Celtics more than pleased with their maximum-salary investment in Horford — even on the nights when his contributions are not as readily apparent in the box score as they were on Tuesday.


“A lot of names get thrown around — and rightfully so — in defensive talk around the league,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “There are a lot of really good defenders. But Al is up there. He doesn’t always get mentioned. And that’s OK with Al. He’s proven that he’s OK with contributing to winning whether he gets talked about or not.”


Horford largely held Porzingis to 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting, after helping hold Joel Embiid and Simmons to a combined 22 points on 8-for-27 shooting in Philadelphia.


“People really haven’t noticed me being in those positions so much before,” Horford said. “I’ve always felt like I’ve been able to cover some of these guys.”






bob
MY NOTE:  Horford has been magnificent on the defensive end so far.  We're talking about some very, very good offensive players with Porzingis, Embiid and Simmons.




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