Al Horford leads Celtics to game four playoff win over the Bucks

Al Horford (Erik Drost, Wikimedia Commons)

The Boston Celtics are now even in their best out of seven series with the Milwaukee Bucks. What we saw on Monday, was outstanding production from an unexpected source. Al Horford of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic had 30 points as the Celtics beat the Milwaukee Bucks 116-108 to tie their best out of seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at two games apiece.

The reason why Horford’s 30 points was so unexpected is because it was the first time he reached 30 points in a postseason game in his career. According to ESPN via the Elias Sports Bureau, Horford set the record for the most playoff games in NBA history before recording his first 30-point postseason game (131). Clifford Robinson of Buffalo, New York had the old record of 90 playoff games before he had a 30-point game for the Phoenix Suns in a 97-96 Phoenix loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in game two of the Western Conference Semifinals on May 10, 2000.

Horford has averaged 13.7 points per game, 8.2 rebounds per game, and 3.4 assists per game in 132 postseason games with the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. He has a career postseason field goal percentage of .565, career three-point percentage of .535, and a career free throw percentage of .800.

It should be noted that Horford was not the only Celtics player to have 30 points in game three. Jayson Tatum also scored 30 points. Tatum had a double-double as he also added 13 rebounds. One could argue Horford was the more impressive player on the court Monday as he was a +20, while Tatum was only a +9.

This is Horford’s second time with Boston. He was previously with the Celtics from 2016 to 2019 before playing one season each in Philadelphia and Oklahoma City. Horford was then traded back to the Celtics in the deal that saw Kemba Walker go to Oklahoma City. 

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