Kentavious Caldwell-Pope became public enemy No. 1 in Boston after injuring Celtics star Jayson Tatum’s wrist in Game 1 of this opening-round series.
Among those who were displeased with the flagrant foul was Celtics center Al Horford. During an availability between Games 1 and 2, Horford told reporters that he felt that there was “something extra” behind Caldwell-Pope’s effort on the play that left Tatum with a bone bruise on his right wrist.
The Orlando Magic guard received the LeBron/Kyrie treatment in Game 2, when he was relentlessly booed by Celtics fans every time he touched the ball. In response, KCP tried to play into the villain role and egged the crowd on to boo him louder early in the game.
Now, the punchline here is that Caldwell-Pope missed his first eight shots on Wednesday night, en route to a 1-of-9 performance in an Orlando loss.
During his attempt at villainy, KCP managed to have a literal run-in with Horford. The two were jogging down the court when Caldwell-Pope tripped up Horford, to which the big man did not take kindly. Tempers flared before No. 42 walked to the opposite end of the parquet to cool himself off.
The mix of the on-and-off court frustration with Orlando’s physical play style was enough for Magic fans to sour on Big Al. Fans loudly booed his introduction in the starting lineup before Games 3 and 4, and some even went as far as to make t-shirts with an AI-generated image of him crying on the front.
Unlike his newfound nemesis KCP, Horford wasn’t afraid of a hostile environment.
After the Cs dropped a tough Game 3 at Kia Center, he wasn’t going to let the series slide to a 2-2 tie. His Game 4 performance was about as good as it gets for a guy whose value comes in the margins.
“There should be a separate stat sheet for guys like him because of the kinds of stuff that he does,” said Head Coach Joe Mazzulla following Boston’s Game 4 victory (via CLNS).
The man was absolute nails on the defensive end. His five rejections tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most blocks in a single playoff game for any player 38 or older.
As the above montage showcased, these weren’t all the generic “meet the guy at the rim” type of blocks. Two of them came as the result of controlled closeouts. It’s not easy to block shots on the perimeter, and he did it twice.
The big man’s fourth block, one where he sent a Cory Joseph layup attempt into the tenth row, gave him a great chance to play with the crowd and lean into the “heel” role.
His individual, non-statsheet showing defense was also excellent (though, the matchup box score was how I found this information, lol).
Horford did a tremendous job of defending Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. He matched up with Banchero on 25 partial possessions and held the Magic star to just seven points on 3-of-10 shooting. He did an even better job on his 15 partial possessions on Wagner, allowing zero points on 0-of-5 shooting.
His defensive showcase came on a night where he didn’t commit a single foul. It’s impressive for any six-foot-ten guy to keep up with smaller players. It’s even more impressive when the guy is 38 years old.
“He’s just an unbelievable competitor, and he made all of the plays necessary to help us win,” Mazzulla added.
Horford’s competitiveness was on full display when he had what was perhaps his biggest impact moment of the night. With about 6:30 remaining in regulation, he created an extra two points for the Celtics by somehow grabbing a strong-side offensive rebound, after battling his way around Wagner from the weak side.
I mean, this is the epitome of a hustle play.
Horford’s Game 4 performance was a reminder that it’s possible to have a crowd-silencing outing without scoring a billion points or trying to do too much. In fact, the reason why he was so effective was that he just played his game. He locked in defensively without being too aggressive and made winning plays.
This is one of those moments where it feels like Horford can play forever, but man, are we all going to miss him when he’s gone.
