Crunching the numbers on ageless Al Horford’s throwback game vs. Lakers

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Crunching the numbers on ageless Al Horford’s throwback game vs. Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

There are moments over the course of a season when Al Horford occasionally looks his age of 38 years and 280 days old. He shows rare glimpses of the wear and tear that comes with 42,000 total minutes played over 18 NBA seasons.

Then, invariably, the bright lights of a big-time matchup flick on. And if Father Time was ever visible in the rearview mirror, Horford shifts to a higher gear to leave him coughing in a dust storm as he speeds off.

Horford turned back the clock yet again Saturday night. The Lakers, whose head coach, JJ Redick, is just two years older and entered the NBA just one season before Horford, seemingly tried to exploit the big man’s veteran status by repeatedly putting Horford in isolation.

Horford, as he typically does, left the opposition flummoxed by his defense, regardless of whether it was fellow NBA octogenarian LeBron James, or the much younger Luka Doncic. Horford’s defense was key to propelling the Celtics to a triumph in a rivalry showdown with the Lakers at TD Garden.

“I’m the biggest Al Horford fan there is. I love that guy,” teammate Jayson Tatum told reporters after Saturday’s win over the Lakers. “The things he’s able to do provide in Year 18, I don’t think that gets talked about enough.”

So let’s talk about them:

The Lakers put Horford in 23 isolation situations, the second-most in tracking history, per ESPN’s analytics guru Dean Oliver. Second Spectrum data had Horford allowing a meager 0.39 points per direct play. That’s well below Horford’s 0.98 points points per play allowed in isolation defense this season, per Synergy data.

NBA tracking had the Lakers making 8 of 24 shot attempts against Horford, including just 3 of 13 2-point shots (23.1 percent) when Horford was the primary defender, or 32.6 percent below expected output on those shots.

Horford finished with a Game Score of 18.5, his second highest mark of the season. Game Score is a mashup of box score data distilled down to one digestible number. Horford put up 14 points on 5-of-9…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/crunching-numbers-ageless-al-horfords-152138860.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2025-03-10 15:21:00

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