Even if you attack, you can t defend! Is the Celtics inside veteran really old this time?

In the previous NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals G2, the New York Knicks once again completed a shocking comeback, defeating the Boston Celtics who played at home again 91-90. After this game, the Knicks also unexpectedly won two consecutive away games, and led the defending champion Boston Celtics with a total score of 2-0, gaining an absolute advantage in this round of series.

In this game, the performance of Celtics' starting center Al Horford was really terrible. Horford played 29 minutes and 04 seconds in the game, made 2 of 11 shots and 0 of 5 shots from outside the three-point line, and scored only 4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 block. The plus and negative value was lower than the lowest level of -11 in the game. Horford had no touch on the offensive end, and he also got a lot of opportunities to shoot from the outside, but he missed all these opportunities. Not only that. Horford's performance on the defensive end is also very bad. Although his defensive experience seems to be good, his actual defensive contribution is also a mess. His weaknesses in moving speed are very obvious, and his concentration is also obvious. His effect on the defensive end is very bad. It is no exaggeration to say that Horford's series of poor performances on both sides of the offense and defense directly affected the team's overall competitiveness and led to the team's final defeat.

In the NBA regular season this season, Horford made a total of 60 appearances in the first 82 games, averaging 27.7 minutes per game, averaging 9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.9 blocks, and 0.8 turnovers and 1.4 fouls. He shot 42.3%, three-point shooting percentage 36.3%, and free throw shooting percentage 89.5%. In the playoffs, Horford averaged 32.1 minutes in the first seven games, with averaging 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 0.7 steals and 1.6 blocks, and 0.7 turnovers and 2.7 fouls. His shooting percentage was 38.3%, his three-point shooting percentage was 27.3%, and his free throw shooting percentage was 80%.

Horford's performance in the first round of the playoffs was quite average, at least not that bad, but this may also be related to the strength of his opponent Orlando Magic. In this round of series, facing the stronger Knicks, his weaknesses were further magnified. In G1, Horford's performance was very bad. He made 2 of 6 shots, 1 of 5 shots from outside the three-point line, and 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 7 points, 7 rebounds and 1 block in the field, including 3 frontcourt rebounds, and 4 fouls, with a plus-negative value of 0. In the two games, Horford's offensive efficiency was 4 of 17 shots and 10 shots outside the three-point line. It can be said that he has no scoring ability at all, and he is quite powerless on the defensive end. Even if the Celtics were allowed to go up with Luke Kornet, the performance was better than him. Continuing to give him so much playing time will further impact and blow the Celtics' competitiveness.