BOSTON – On the confetti-filled podium in front of a national television audience, Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck and coach Joe Mazzulla held up the Larry O’Brien trophy after the Celtics won their 18th NBA title. Soon, the trophy was in the hands of Jayson Tatum.
However, everyone on stage wanted to make sure 17-year veteran Al Horford was next.
“Nobody deserved it more than Al,” Jaylen Brown said. “He’s been a great leader not just on the court but off the court as well. Just a mentor. Someone I can talk to about life and who will give me great advice about family, finances, just life, adversity, whatever. whatever the case. Only Al was that guy for me and for us.
“Knowing the type of person that Al is, knowing the leader that he is, even off the court, the father that he is, just the great person and the great human, I would run through a brick wall for him,” said Jrue Holiday, who admitted it was a little strange that just a year ago he was trying to stop Horford from getting a ring, “I’m so happy he got one.”
Horford has experienced a championship before, he won two NCAA titles while at the University of Florida under Bulls coach Billy Donovan with teammates Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer.
The NBA mountain, however, could take much longer and be harder to climb. Horford was a five-time All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defensive Team player, but he didn’t have a ring.
He saw Grousbeck’s 2008 ring during his 2016 free agency meetings and that was part of what attracted Horford to the Celtics eight years ago (he left the team in 2019 as a free agent and signed with Philadelphia, who traded him to Oklahoma City in 2020, then in 2021, the Thunder traded him back to the Celtics, where he re-signed and has been ever since).
“Man, I never forget what Danny Ainge told me in that meeting,” Horford said. “He said, ‘You can win championships in a lot of places, but there’s nothing like winning in Boston. Nothing like winning like Celtic.’ And that stuck with me ever since that meeting and I was like, man, I’m trying to be great, and that’s what I want.
Horford has been a perfect fit, a player the Celtics have turned to repeatedly when other things haven’t gone as planned — like Kristaps Porzingis getting hurt in the Finals.
Horford embraced Boston and was a Celtic in a way that not every player does – and that made him a fan favorite.
“The first thing you need to do when you get here is accept this pressure. And I was okay with being in that position,” Horford said. “I would be fine if we were criticized and couldn’t do it because I understand what it means to play here. And for you to finally overcome that and win and put us alongside the greats, that’s special.
“Our group, we have had a lot of difficulties in recent years. Last year, heartbreaker against Miami, game 7. The year before that, Golden State. to work.”
And now Horford is going down, it’s Boston Celtics tradition as part of this team.
His teammates couldn’t be happier for him.
