On the eve of his 36th birthday, former Gator [autotag]Al Horford[/autotag] is playing some of his best basketball with the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. That’s high praise for someone who once led Florida to back-to-back national championships, but Horford’s performance in Game 1 of the Finals against Golden State deserves that kind of attention.
Horford scored a team-high 26 points, shooting 6-of-8 from beyond the arc in the comeback win for Boston. The six three-pointers are a record for a Finals debut, and his 11 points in the final quarter of the game allowed the Celtics to come back from a 15-point deficit in the second half against the Warriors. Ever the team player, Horford gave credit to his teammates for his success.
“It was the way that we were moving the ball on offense, just being in those positions,” Horford said, according to Celtics.com. “I felt like the guys kept finding me time after time.”
Celtics fans showered Horford with love after the performance and birthday wishes began to flood in on social media as the clock turned over on the East Coast. Those of us in the Sunshine State will always remember Horford best for his three years in the Orange and Blue, but he might go down in history for this game.
Heck, he even beat out LeBron as the oldest player in NBA history to sink more than five threes in a Finals game.
Getting a win in the Bay Area to start the series off is big too. If Boston goes on to win it all quickly, it will be hard to look back at Horford’s performance as the difference-maker in the series.
The Celtics are back on Sunday against the Warriors at the Chase Center before heading to the Garden for a pair.
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