Two weeks in the past, in a pregame media scrum at shoot-around, Al Horford known as himself an elite shooter, which drew amusing from a reporter.
Later that evening, Horford went 5-of-7 from 3-point vary in a Game 3 win over the Sixers within the second spherical. The pregame clip went viral, and Horford seemingly had the final snicker.
But with the Celtics falling into an 0-2 gap to start out the Eastern Conference Finals, nobody is laughing. Especially Horford, who’s 1-of-8 from 3-point vary within the collection and taking pictures 27.7% from deep since his feedback.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla addressed Horford’s struggles throughout a video convention with reporters Saturday, with a vital Game 3 win hours away.
“Al just has to continue to shoot the ball with confidence when he’s open,” Mazzulla mentioned. “He’s been one of our better shooters throughout the year, and when he’s playing well, he gives us a great opportunity on the offensive end. Defensively, he’s been very, very solid.”
Mazzulla began Horford and Robert Williams collectively for a second straight recreation Friday evening, although the Celtics’ high bigs performed simply 5 minutes collectively, the shortest time any Boston duo in Game 2, per NBA monitoring information.
Why was that?
“Just looking at how our switching attack can be better,” Mazzulla mentioned.
He later added: “Trying to generate those matchups, and from the defensive end just looking to guard their shooters and do the best we can in the half-court.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com