Al Horford's big night puts spotlight on surging Boston Celtics starting lineup

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Al Horford's big night puts spotlight on surging Boston Celtics starting lineup



Posted on March 16, 2017 at 4:00 AM




Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) earlier in the season.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)




BY JAY KING



BOSTON -- After seeing Boston Celtics teammate Al Horford break down the Minnesota Timberwolves in a dozen different ways Wednesday night, Avery Bradley glowed while reflecting on all of the big man's playmaking.

"He might be the best passer on our team," Bradley said in a compliment rarely directed toward such a large human. "One of the best passers in the NBA, to me."

"He's willing to pass more than anything," Bradley continued. "We like to get the ball in his hands because we know he's going to make the right play. The majority of the time he'll make it for a teammate. His playmaking ability is amazing. He gets everyone going. He's so positive. He sacrifices a lot for his team. It doesn't go unnoticed. We appreciate him. He's definitely a great addition to this team."

Horford (20 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, two blocks) has also been a great addition to the regular starting lineup, which impressed earlier in the season but has turned into a killer since the All-Star break. Because of injuries, the normal Celtics starters have only appeared in 28 games together. Incorporating a four-time All-Star could have taken a while, but Horford -- as his rare assist numbers suggest -- has been a joy to play with while helping to power one of the NBA's top units.

Check out some stats from the regular Celtics starters:

Over 336 minutes this season, the Celtics starters own a +10.2 net rating, which ranks sixth among all lineups with at least 300 minutes, according to NBA.com.

Since the All-Star break, that net rating has shot up to +18.9. The sample size is obviously small (82 minutes), but the Celtics starters have been elite at offense (117.4 rating), defense (98.5 rating), and even defensive rebounding (81.9 percent rebound rate) -- a huge trouble area early in the season. While it's not fair to compare a starting lineup to an entire team, we'll do it for the sake of this exercise just because it leaves an interesting reference point: ranked against entire teams, the Celtics starters would lead the league in all of those categories except one (the Pistons, since the break, own a slightly better defensive rebound rate).

As a unit, the Celtics starters are shooting 43.4 percent from behind the arc on 15.1 3-point makes per 48 minutes. In both categories, they are essentially knotted with the Golden State Warriors starting lineup, which features Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant. As you can probably guess, few lineups league-wide have matched that type of outside firepower.

After a defensive lull midway through the season, the Celtics starters, when healthy, have turned in some crushing two-way performances. Wednesday night against the Timberwolves, they blasted their victims 34-27 over 14 minutes for a tidy +28.0 net rating.

The real trick so far has been keeping the starters in the lineup.

"We haven't been together that much," said Isaiah Thomas. "We go together four, five games and somebody will get hurt or go down, and then we'll go another four or five games together. So I'm glad we could get a good stretch of games together. Hopefully everyone will stay healthy and we can finish the season off right."

"We're still learning to play with each other, the first unit," added Bradley. "The sky's the limit for us. It's only been a few games we've been healthy and playing together. I like the way we are looking right now."


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