MILWAUKEE -- One week ago as Brad Stevens was facing the prospect of a 0-3 start in Philadelphia, the head coach took a long look at his subpar offense and found something that needed to change right away: Al Horford would have to get aggressive again with Gordon Hayward watching from the sidelines.
“We're going to need him to be a central part of what we're doing, along with Kyrie and others obviously,” Stevens declared in Philadelphia. “The first two games he averaged nine shots a game and we all need to do a better job (getting him the ball). It starts with me making sure that we play through him more.”
Stevens relayed that message loud and clear to the Celtics the past seven days and the team and Horford responded in kind on Thursday night. Horford matched his career-high point total as a Celtic, scoring a season-high 27 while shooting a scorching 11-of-14 from the field in a hard-fought, 96-89 road win over the Bucks. The big man also added nine rebounds and four assists in the best all-around effort from a Celtic we’ve seen this year.
“He was great on both ends of the floor,” Stevens said after the game. “He guarded Giannis (Antetokounmpo) a large part of the night and I thought did a great job on him. Obviously, he hit the big 3s at the end of third and had the big tip-in going into the fourth, which kind of gave us a little bit of momentum.”
"Just taking what the defense gave us,” Horford said of his overall play. “We got some post-ups. They're a team, they're just different the way they defend, the things they make you do. They really make you think the game. I was just taking the shots they were giving me."
On a night when Celtics not named Al or Kyrie shot a paltry 26 percent from the field, the pressure was squarely placed on both veterans to overcome another hostile road environment and put some additional offensive onus on themselves. That’s natural for a guy like Irving (24 points), but the unselfish Horford has never been known for his offense (career ppg average of 14.3).
With Boston’s secondary weapons now seeking out Horford more in spots on the floor he can succeed (in the post and at the 3-point line), the veteran has helped push the Celtics to a three-game winning streak. The victories have also been accompanied by a bump in his shot attempts per game (12.6 during the streak despite the Knicks blowout Tuesday night).
The ever-modest Horford credited his teammates first for his breakout Thursday night, as his second-half production (16 points) proved to be the difference against a feisty Bucks defense
"I've really got to give all the credit to Marcus Smart,” Horford said “He just sees the game in ways that a lot of times we don't even see it, and he recognized that my guy was kind of falling asleep on the weak side. So just told me, 'Hey, I'm going to screen for you, and just run off and shoot the corner 3.' You know, he got me open there on back to back 3's, and I felt like that was a big turning point in the game."
Horford went 4-of-5 overall from downtown, pushing his season average to 45 percent from 3-point range.
A budding chemistry with Kyrie Irving was also on display in the win, as the point guard assisted Horford on four of his makes in the second half.
THESE TWO ??? pic.twitter.com/BPQemekuw9
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 27, 2017
.@Al_Horford has all the time in the world ? pic.twitter.com/VNFBoLSFAC
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 27, 2017
