The Nuggets had one more chance.
Derrick White had just stolen a long rebound and hit a floater, giving Boston a five-point lead with less than a minute to go. If Denver was going to steal a win, they needed to get a score and a stop on the ensuing possession.
With 48 seconds left the Nuggets to the switch they wanted: Jamal Murray onto Al Horford at the logo and a whole lot of open space.
He danced and dribbled to his right, but Horford slid over and took the bump. Murray spun, hesitated, and drove to his left, but Horford kept up, forcing Murray to pass it back to Nikola Jokic.
But Horford read the play, jumped as Murray did, and deflected the pass. His momentum carried him out of bounds as Boston fought for the ball and ran out in transition. Jaylen Brown got the ball with a head of steam and a path to the rim, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught Horford sprinting back into the play. Brown faked, shoveled a pass to his center, and Horford laid it in to ice the game.
“He’s supposed to dunk that,” Brown joked after the game. “But he’s got five kids so we let him slide.”
Brown was 11 years old when Horford broke into the league. Horford’s oldest son Ean, now a fixture around the arena and Boston locker room, is 10. But the father of five whose 39th birthday is three months from tomorrow, continues to hang with the NBA’s best.
“He has the innate ability to impact the game in so many different ways,” Joe Mazzulla said. “He’s one of the best players in the league at guarding the other best players in the league, no matter the position that they have. He was just elite tonight on the defensive end of the floor, with his positioning, his communication, his physicality, his rebounding. It was amazing to watch.”
There's no doubt Horford paces himself during the regular season. He’s not driven by stats or status. He just wants to do what helps the Celtics win. But when it comes to facing some of the big-name bigs in the league, Horford tends to find another level.
"I just like to compete,” Horford said. “It comes down to that. In Jokic's case, in my opinion, he's probably the top player in our league right now. … For me, when you go against a guy like that, it's not me against him. It's everybody really has to be synced in to what we need to do and what the game plan was.”
Ever humble, Horford politely
