The Boston Celtics have listed veteran big man Al Horford as out for the team’s tilt against the Orlando Magic Saturday evening with back soreness, joining fellow frontcourt players Robert Williams III (knee) and Danilo Gallinari (knee) as scratches for the second half of Boston’s back-to-back on their first road trip of the 2022-23 NBA season.
Horford has repeatedly stressed he does not plan to sit on back-to-backs this season, but if the Dominican forward is experiencing any discomfort at all, it is undoubtedly the right call to rest the vet given how thin the Celtics’ frontcourt rotation already is with both Gallo and Timelord out.
There may have been hints this was the plan all along given Blake Griffin was a DNP during Friday night’s win over the Heat. However, it’s just as possible the team is simply taking a cautious approach with a critical player the night after a game in which Horford saw 34 minutes of floor time.
Celtics Lab 148: Getting to know Paolo Banchero and other high-impact 2022-23 rookies with Cody Taylor https://t.co/bm0VK4QhwH
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 21, 2022
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