Some leftover thoughts and nuggets from the Celtics’ 111-101 win over the Lakers on Saturday, with an extra helping of Al Horford appreciation …
The Lakers targeted Horford on defense throughout the game, and he was more than up to the task. Horford was put into isolation situations 23 times and surrendered an average of just .59 points per play, according to Second Spectrum. He was so dominant that Lakers coach JJ Redick acknowledged his team’s approach turned out to be flawed.
“Frankly, Al Horford is awesome still,” Redick said.
Horford finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals, and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla enjoyed his vintage performance as much as anyone, particularly at the defensive end.
“I got to watch five possessions of him defending at a high level, and at one point, I wasn’t coaching. I was just watching him, and I was like, ‘Man, this guy’s a future Hall of Famer. I get to watch this for free,” Mazzulla said.
The comment raises an interesting question about Horford’s candidacy. Although he is a five-time All-Star, his accolades beyond that are fairly sparse in terms of being an all-time great. He was named All-NBA just once, receiving a third-team honor in 2011. He has never averaged 20 points per game in a season, and topped the 10-rebound mark just once, in 2012-13.
But Horford deserves credit for his longevity. And it is important to note that it is the Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame. Horford won back-to-back national championships at Florida in 2006 and ’07. If he can add back-to-back NBA titles to his résumé this June, his case would become even more compelling.
⋅ In the Celtics’ win against the Nuggets last Sunday, Jaylen Brown ignited a fast break and found Horford for a layup. After the game, he smiled as he recalled Horford’s below-the-rim approach.
“He’s supposed to dunk that,” Brown said. “But he’s got five kids, so we let him slide.”
On Saturday night, Horford flipped the script. In the first quarter he and Brown once again teamed up in transition and Horford soared in for a two-handed dunk. At the start of the third quarter, the two broke free together on another fast break after a steal by Brown, but Brown’s shovel pass sailed behind Horford and out of bounds. Horford, it turned out, was thinking big.
“He was running so fast,” Brown said, smiling. “Like, he was moving. He was like, ‘You were supposed to throw the lob.’ And I’m like, somebody let me know how many lobs Al has. So he was telling me I should have thrown the lob. You ain’t got one lob all season. But when Al’s feeling good, we’ve got to take advantage of that, so that’s my fault.”
⋅ Center Kristaps Porzingis missed his fifth consecutive game Saturday because of an illness, and is listed as doubtful for Monday’s game against the Jazz. The entire situation feels a bit odd. Porzingis took part in portions of practice last Thursday, was on the bench for the last two games, and completed a full warm-up prior to the Lakers game. He certainly appears to be fine. He even posted a comment on Instagram on Friday saying he would play against Los Angeles.
Porzingis has not spoken to the media since he was sidelined, and Mazzulla continues to reveal very little, saying simply that Porzingis has been sick but is getting better. The guess here is that Porzingis was, in fact, dealing with an illness but is mostly fine now. But the Celtics, who are all but locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, are using the situation to help the injury-prone big man get an extended rest.
The choice Saturday might have been made easier when Lakers center Jaxson Hayes and power forward Rui Hachimura were ruled out. Regardless, there certainly does not appear to be any concern within the Celtics organization.
⋅ Point guard Jrue Holiday, meanwhile, returned after missing four games with a right pinkie injury. He had a bit of a rocky start, firing some poor passes and putting up a lefthanded layup that normally would have been a righthanded shot. But he appeared to settle in. He hit a corner 3-pointer and his relentless on-ball defense was unaffected by the injury.
“It was all right,” Holiday said. “I got a couple of shots up and it felt a little weird, but I’ve been trying to shoot for the last few days so it was cool. I shot all right.”
Holiday said he will continue to play with a small protective brace on the finger.
⋅ Although there were some anxious moments in the fourth, the Celtics really won Saturday’s game during the third quarter, when the Lakers made just 5 of 23 shots and 1 of 10 3-pointers, committed six turnovers, and scored 13 points.
“You have to play good offense to keep them out of transition,” Mazzulla said. “They got a couple leak-outs, but we were able to take that away. We kept them off the free throw line, we took away their corner threes, and we were able to limit them to one shot.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.