Celtics’ Al Horford on the Thunder as contenders, what he took from his time in OKC

“I think they are a contender right now, and they’re just going to keep getting better,” said the Boston big man.

The Boston Celtics may have lost the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, but it’s hard to win in the NBA, and the Celtics have no shame in coming up just short to one of the best teams in the league so far this season on a night when bad shooting and defensive lapses proved too much to overcome vs. such an opponent.

And the Celtics can attribute a fair amount of that success apart from the Thunder loss to a trade with that same team to bring back veteran Boston big man Al Horford at the start of Brad Stevens’ tenure as team president. Our sister site Thunder Wire caught up with Horford ahead of the game to talk about that transition, and the growth he sees in his former ball club.

“They’ve gotten better quickly,” said Horford, though “it’s obvious now that they’re one of the better teams in the league.”