NEW YORK — For the primary time in his Celtics profession, Al Horford got here off the bench for Wednesday’s season opener towards the Knicks.
Horford, coming into his sixth whole season as a member of the C’s, had began all 429 video games he performed in Boston – 340 common season, 89 postseason – earlier than Wednesday. But with how loaded the Celtics’ roster is, and the best way Joe Mazzulla needs to play, Horford accepted a seat on the bench because the ball tipped at Madison Square Garden.
It’s the primary noteworthy instance of sacrifice the Celtics are emphasizing this season as they chase a championship. Horford, who most popular to start out in earlier seasons, swallowed his ego. It didn’t go unnoticed.
“That’s the ultimate sacrifice,” Jayson Tatum stated. “Everybody knows how much I love and respect Al. A lot of guys say that they’ll do anything to help the team win, but Al is the epitome of that. We got six starters essentially, and everybody’s gonna to sacrifice at some point throughout the season, depending on who we’re playing and matchups. But for Al to voice that he should come on a bench or whatever, he’s the ultimate team player. That’s why we all love and appreciate him and obviously he’s gonna be a huge part of the success that we have this year.”
Horford didn’t volunteer to come back off the bench, however after a number of conversations, agreed to do as Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis took the ground. Horford acquired additional reward from Mazzulla, who harassed that this received’t be the one instance of sacrifice this season.
“Al’s a cultural warrior for us,” Mazzulla stated. “So for a man of his stature, what he’s accomplished on this league, what he’s accomplished for our crew, to be keen to do this for our crew is essential and I’m grateful for that and for him. At the identical time, it’s not nearly him. I believe that’s the concept of this entire offseason, this preseason beginning factor is like, yeah, Al’s making the preliminary sacrifice, however everybody’s gonna need to. And so it’s vital that our crew as an entire has the empathy for one another to grasp that every man goes to have to surrender one thing little for us to be a greater crew.
“It’s gonna look differently for each guy and it’s gonna come at different times throughout the season. So right now, Al stepped up to the plate and started that for us, but each guys’ gonna have to do what Al’s doing night in and night out at different times. And as long as we keep that togetherness, that sacrifice, that open-mindedness, we’ll be able to maximize our ability to be as successful as we can be.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com