A more comfortable marksman, Al Horford is making his presence felt from deep

https://sports.yahoo.com/more-comfortable-marksman-al-horford-155623196.html



A more comfortable marksman, Al Horford is making his presence felt from deep




Justin Quinn
Sun, October 10, 2021, 11:56 AM
·2 min read




The Boston Celtics got a surprise out of veteran big man Al Horford on Saturday night from beyond the arc, with the Florida product knocking down a sizzling 4-of-4 3-point shots he attempted in the Celtics’ 113 – 111 preseason exhibition win over the Toronto Raptors.


And while shooting the 3-ball is not a new revelation for the career 36.4% shooter from downtown, he rarely hoisted the shot as often as he did on Saturday in his first stint with Boston, having boosted the frequency of the shot as part of his overall arsenal while playing with the Philadelphia 76ers and Oklahoma City Thunder. And it seems to be paying off.

“I think I am a much better shooter,” observed Horford after the preseason win.

“When I was here (previously), shooting was something that was kind of new,” he added.

“My 3-point shooting came in different ways than it comes now. I made really sure that I worked on shooting off the pass quickly, and not only off the pick and roll movement, shooting a little bit if I have to. So, I do feel like I am a much better shooter now than I was then.”

“But, that’s just the way the league has gone, so it’s forced me to work on that even more,” explained Horford.


While we may not see the big man stick his treys with such lethal accuracy on a night-to-night basis, the aggressiveness with which he is seeking them out may soon cause opposing defenses to reconsider how they cover him when playing Boston.

Which is exactly what the Celtics are hoping for.


Bob
MY NOTE:  It's hard for me to see what's going on here, both literally and figuratively.  Horford is a 36.4% career 3pt shooter.  He shot 36% last year, but that was a short year for him in OKC.  He shot 35% in Philly, but he was misused there playing with Embiid.  The year before that, in Boston, he shot 36%.  Through two preseason games he's 5-8 (62.5%) but that's hardly a large enough sample.  He increased his 3pt fgas/game from the 3.X/game in the years he was in Boston to 4.2/game in Philly and 5.4/game in OKC.  

If he is a better shooter that'd be huge.  He'd open the floor for either RWill or Kanter.  If he shoots 36%+ from 3 and >4/game that would be impactful because they wouldn't be able to fall off him and, if they run out at him, he'll put the ball on the floor.  He's a very good passing big.


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