As the Celtics continued their way through the preseason, every member of the regular roster made an appearance except for one big exception. Al Horford hadn’t played in the first four preseason games as the team kept him out of game action.
But one week ahead of the regular-season opener, Horford made his 2024-25 debut in the Celtics’ narrow loss to the Raptors on Monday. Considering Horford is entering his age-38 season, it‘s no surprise the Celtics are keeping him out of action so he stays fresh through the regular season. And after his preseason debut, it sounds like things are still looking good for the NBA veteran.
“I’m in a good place,” Horford said, via NBC Sports Boston. “As the season continues to go — the good thing is we have a week until we start. So I’ll continue to prepare and be in a better place. But I’m doing a lot of conditioning, which I feel like it helped me a lot because I felt pretty decent out there with my wind and everything. Which, to me, is the most important.”
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Horford looked a little rusty in his preseason debut, playing in 23 minutes, shooting 1-for-6 from the floor and 0-for-4 on 3-pointers. Horford finished with two points, two rebounds and an assist in those minutes as the C’s also experimented with different lineups throughout the game.
The Celtics are in a unique situation with their big man rotation. Horford isn‘t going to play extended minutes throughout the regular season; Kristaps Porzingis also remains sidelined coming back from surgery. That means Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman and Neemias Queta will have an added role throughout the regular season. Fortunately for the C’s, the backup bigs appear ready to absorb any extra minutes they get in the meantime.
Horford shrugged off any retirement talk coming off the 2024 title. The Celtics are also in a rare situation where they bring back essentially the same roster when it comes to their contributors. So, for now, they’ll prepare for the season opener next week, set for Oct. 22 against the Knicks at TD Garden for ring night.
“It felt good just to be out there, be part of a game, get up and down, and get a feel back for it,” Horford said. “So pretty happy in being back.”
