If there really are basketball gods, they definitely smiled on us the day Al Horford decided to wear green.
The Celtics beat the Knicks in New York, 119-107, to improve their preseason record to 4-1, but that was almost secondary to the display put on by our favorite free agent acquisition. Al played 15 minutes, shot 5-5 (2-2 from deep), and added three rebounds, three assists and two blocks (one a highlight reel rejection). The Knicks had no answer for him.
Horford started fast, hitting his first three jumpers, as the Celtics made their first seven shots. Bradley shot 4-5 in the quarter, matching Kristaps Porzingis’ nine points for NY, and the Celtics led, 28-25, after one.
In the second, Horford continued to torch the Knicks by draining two for two from the arc. With just under two minutes left in the half, Crowder made two straight three-pointers, and Isaiah Thomas added another (his only bucket of the game), giving the Cs a 56-45 lead. The Knicks’ Brandon Jennings hit a three from the corner, but Marcus Smart answered with a triple, and Boston was up, 59-50, at halftime. Bradley had 15, Horford 12, and Crowder 11 (which were their final totals, since all sat out the second half).
Gerald Green made his first appearance after half – and immediately swished a jumper – as Amir Johnson and four second unit guys came out for the third quarter. Midway through the period, the Cs turned up the defense and ran off 12 straight points – two Jaylen Brown layups, an Amir dunk off a steal, a layup by Jonas Jerebko, a Green breakaway dunk off a lob from Jerebko, and a Smart putback – to blow out the lead to 79-62 (largest of the night). The Celts closed the quarter with three straight triples by James Young, R.J. Hunter and Demetrius Jackson, and led 90-78 at the horn.
For some reason, early in the fourth, the Cs decided to stop playing, allowing the Knicks to score 12 straight points on a variety of jumpers and tip-ins, cutting the lead to two. A Young triple righted the ship, but NY’s bench kept working and cut the lead to one before R.J. beat the shot clock with a sweet lefty layup and-one. From there, Hunter, Young, Jackson, Brown and Jordan Mickey outhustled NY and dominated on both ends to win going away.
The Green:
R.J. had 17 points on 6-8 shooting in 15 meaningful minutes when both teams played their second/third-stringers.
Bradley shot 7-9 and Jaylen was 4-6.
The Gross:
In the fourth, the refs missed a clear NY backcourt violation on an inbounds pass, and of course the Knicks hit a three on the possession.
Celts were just 20-35 (57.1%) from the free throw line.
Off night for IT, just 1-5 and five points.
The Greenlights:
Get outta here, Porzingis.
#Celtics Rewind presented by @Nissan: @Al_Horford flies in to block @kporzee https://t.co/9o2eOiRQIY
— CSN New England (@CSNNE) October 16, 2016
Al from deep
No hesitation, no problem for Al Horford pic.twitter.com/NZrG0U1m83
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 16, 2016
Jennings wants no part of Bradley
Avery Bradley doing what he does best: pic.twitter.com/SWky5rKFFe
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 15, 2016
The Grid:
- Boston: FG 43-73, 58.9%; 3FG 13-26, 50%
- NY: FG 42-92, 45.7%; 3FG 11-27, 40.7%
