20161202-SACBOS

Taylor Snow

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BOSTON – Al Horford stood beyond the 3-point line with his back to the basket and his arms draped all over DeMarcus Cousins as the final seconds of Friday’s game between the Celtics and Kings ticked away.

Sacramento trailed 95-92. The shot clock was off and the game clock trickled down from nine seconds… to eight… to seven.

Cousins had no option but to go for the tie. The only problem was that Horford was giving him no room to breathe.

Sacramento’s star big man rose up for the potential game-tying shot, but could not even manage to bring the ball above his waist. Horford’s right forearm got in the way, making solid contact with the rock for his season-high sixth block of the game.

The ball spun back into Horford’s hands; he was then fouled and made both of his free throws for his 25th and 26th points of the night, sealing a hard-fought, 97-92 win for the C’s.

The 26 points were also a season-high for Horford, but his scoring ability comes to no shock. He’s always been offensively adept, and that was one of the many reasons why the Celtics targeted him during free agency period this past summer.

What was  surprising was Horford’s dominating presence on the other end of the floor, highlighted by his last-second swat with the game on the line.

“I thought there were a couple of huge plays that he made, blocking shots,” C’s coach Brad Stevens said after the game. “The one thing about Al is he’s always in a stance. His arms are always long. He takes up a lot of space and then he reacts quickly to what’s going on.”

The 30-year-old big man has always been a fairly solid rim protector; he entered this season with a career average of 1.2 blocks per game during his nine years with the Atlanta Hawks.

But he’s been a completely different animal in that aspect for the Celtics, not only Friday night, but during each of the nine games he has played in this season.

Horford has blocked at least one shot during every contest and has recorded multiple swats in all but one game.

With his six blocks Friday night, Horford moved ahead of Anthony Davis for the league lead in blocks per game (2.9 BPG).

So, why the sudden surge? What is allowing Horford to more than double his career shot-blocking rate?  He believes it’s largely due to the fact that he’s playing more power forward in Boston, which is allowing him to use his quickness and length to contest shots over a vast area.

“I think that playing at the power forward position really frees me up defensively,” said Horford, who finished one block shy of his career high. “I feel like I can run around a little more and have more impact.

“When you’re a center, a lot of the times you get caught up with the bigs and it’s a little harder to get out to shooters and stuff. I’m just trying to be active, as active as I can.”

Boston has needed an active rim protector for years, and Isaiah Thomas says Horford perfectly fits the role.

“We’d always known when we recruited him, we knew that’s what he was good at,” said Thomas. “Even if he doesn’t block shots, he alters shots and changes them. He’s a hell of a player on both ends of the floor, and he played a hell of a game tonight.”

“A hell of a game” may be an understatement.

Not only did Horford block shots and score; he also corralled eight rebounds, snagged two steals, dished out three assists and only turned the ball over once during a game-high 36 minutes of play.

According to basketball-reference.com, he became the first NBA player on record to tally at least 26 points, four 3-pointers, six blocks and two steals in one game.

And he did all of this against one of the best centers in the league in Cousins.

Cousins entered Friday’s matchup riding the hottest stretch of his career, having averaged 35.3 points and 13.3 rebounds during his previous four games. He tallied 28 points and nine boards Friday night against the Celtics, and missed 16 of his 26 shot attempts.

A large percentage of those misses came while Horford was defending Cousins, including the game-deciding block during the closing seconds.

Horford rose to the occasion, quite literally, when the Celtics were in need of his shot-blocking prowess. And don’t expect it to be the last time that he does so, considering the way he’s been protecting the rim and swatting away the competition of late.

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Al Horford Stuffs Kings with Record Performance

Marc D'Amico

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Al Horford literally did it all for a stretch of 29 seconds during the fourth quarter of Friday night’s matchup between the Celtics and the Kings.

He blocked a shot.  He grabbed a rebound.  He scored a basket.  And then he blocked another shot that led to another Celtics bucket.

Yeah, he did all of that in only 29 seconds of action.

The spurt helped Boston turn a two-point deficit into a two-point lead.  But more importantly, it ignited a flame within his teammates.

Sacramento called for a timeout following the second basket of that stretch, scored by Jonas Jerebko, but Boston kept rolling after the break.

Terry Rozier broke up a pass six seconds after Sacramento’s ensuing inbound pass and took it the other way for what turned into a putback layup by Kelly Olynyk.  Isaiah Thomas soon dropped in a driving, and-one layup and added a free throw off of a technical foul moments later to give the Celtics their largest lead since the first quarter, at 84-76, with 5:17 left in the game.

The Kings briefly made it a one-possession game with 1:31 left in the game, but quickly Horford answered with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 75 seconds remaining on the game clock.  Boston would eventually hold on for the 97-92 win.

The C's can thank Horford for that, because his incredible 29-second stretch of play during the early moments of the fourth quarter changed the path of this game.

Well, you’re going to hear a lot about Al Horford tonight.  Heck, you already did.  So let’s keep this short.

Horford was the best and most impactful player on the court Friday night at the Garden.  He led Boston with 26 points, setting a new career high in a C’s uniform, thanks to an efficient 10-for-18 shooting performance from the field.  He shot 4-for-7 from long distance, tying his career high for 3-point attempts and falling one short of his career high for 3-point makes.

Horford also pitched in seven rebounds and three assists, but his most critical stat of the night may have been his blocked shots.  He swatted away six of Sacramento’s 87 shots on the night, including those two highlighted in our Key Moment.  He played like an elite rim protector, and that’s exactly what Boston needed.

Brad Stevens comments on what he knew about Al Horford's defense following last season's Playoff series.

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Keys to the Game: Celtics 97, Kings 92

Pregame –  Cousins Rides Hottest Stretch of Career into Boston

BOSTON – DeMarcus Cousins has consistently torn opposing teams apart over the last seven seasons, but the Sacramento big man has never experienced a stretch quite like the one he’s currently riding.

Cousins, whose Kings will face off against the Boston Celtics Friday night, has averaged an astounding 35.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game during his last four contests. He’s tallied at least 32 points and nine boards during each game – a feat that he had never before accomplished over a four-game stretch.

“He’s playing in space and attacking the basket and I think his 3-point percentage is pretty high (52.0 percent) in the last four games also,” said Kings coach Dave Joerger ahead of tip-off at TD Garden. “So it becomes a pick-your-poison kind of deal when he’s out on the perimeter.”

Cousins has made 13 of his 25 attempts from beyond the arc during the last four games, which is remarkable for a 6-foot-11, 270-pound center. His perimeter shooting is just one of many concerns for Celtics coach Brad Stevens heading into Friday’s matchup.

“He’s a tough guy to guard,” said Stevens. “I think a great example is just in a simple pick-and-roll, what do you do? I mean, usually with guys who shoot 40 percent you’re likely to switch or mix in switches, but obviously with his size, that becomes a lot more difficult because he can bury you in the post, he’s a good post scorer, and then a good offensive rebounder, especially against guys who are smaller. So he’s a handful.”

Boston’s defense has been torched by top centers during the last couple of weeks, including remarkable performances by Anthony Davis (25 points, 16 rebounds), Karl-Anthony Towns (27 points, 18 rebounds) and Hassan Whiteside (25 points, 17 rebounds).

With that being noted, Stevens is satisfied with the way his defense has performed lately as an entire unit.

“As far as how we’ve played (defensively), I think in the last three weeks we’ve actually been a little bit better,” said Stevens. “We’re focused on the things we can control. We’ve just got to shore up the rebounding and there’s little individual correctable things.”

Another positive note is that Cousins has struggled more against Boston than most other foes. The Celtics are actually the only Eastern Conference team that he has not averaged a double-double against – he’s posted career numbers of 18.7 PPG and 8.9 RPG against Boston.

The Celtics may have a difficult time holding him to those averages Friday night, however, considering their recent fate against top centers and the fact that Cousins is in the midst of the hottest stretch of his career.

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Pregame Post-Ups: Cousins Riding Hottest Stretch of Career

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Here are five things to watch out for when the Boston Celtics and the Sacramento Kings meet at 7:30 p.m. tonight at TD Garden.

The Sacramento Kings were supposed to be coming off of one day of rest as they take the court tonight.  The basketball gods, however, had different plans.

Sacramento’s matchup with Philadelphia was postponed Wednesday night when the two teams and the league determined that the court was not playable due to condensation.  The postponement means that the Kings have not played since Nov. 28, giving them three off days leading up to tonight’s contest.

Will three days of rest help Sacramento to play better tonight?  No one knows.  What we do know, however, is that Sacramento wasn’t supposed to have that much rest leading into this game.

DeMarcus Cousins is a two-time All-Star who has been regarded by many as the most talented big man in the league for some time now.  But, much like his former teammate, Isaiah Thomas, he has gotten even better this season.

Cousins is having the best year of his career and enters tonight’s matchup averaging a career-best 28.7 points per game, which ranks fourth in the league.  He’s also hauling in 10.4 rebounds and dishing out 3.2 assists per game this season.

Boston has had some issues containing talented big men this season.  Andre Drummond just tallied 20 points and 17 rebounds against the C’s Wednesday night for the second time this season, and other bigs like Hassan Whiteside (25 points, 17 rebounds), Karl-Anthony Towns (27 points, 18 rebounds) and Anthony Davis (25 points, 16 rebounds) have tallied monster performances against Boston this season as well.  Clearly, the C’s struggle against elite big-man talent, and that could mean Cousins is in line for another big night tonight.

Speaking of Cousins, he has a reputation for quickly losing his cool.  He has actually been ejected from a game at TD Garden in the past – a little less than two years ago, on Dec. 31, 2014.

Why was he ejected?  Well, he got into it with a player on Boston’s roster who has also had some issues with keeping his cool, Marcus Smart.  Smart boxed Cousins out near the right elbow and Cousins took exception to the play (for some unknown reason).  It sparked Cousins to grab Smart and body slam him to the court.

It will be interesting not only to see how these two players interact tonight, but also how they maintain their cool in general.  Cousins oftentimes becomes frustrated when his team is losing big.  Smart, meanwhile, is only a few days removed from picking up a Flagrant 1 foul and a technical foul Monday night in Miami.

Two of Boston’s top players, Al Horford and Avery Bradley, were minimally used during the team’s loss Wednesday night.  Horford took only five total shot attempts, and Bradley took only eight through the first three quarters.

There’s no doubt that the Celtics will look increase both of those numbers tonight.  As Brad Stevens said of Horford in particular, “[Five shots is] not enough, I know that.”

Look for both Horford and Bradley to be featured in Boston’s offense early and often tonight against Sacramento.  They are two of Boston’s most efficient scorers, and the C’s know that they need to get them the ball in order to succeed.

Isaiah Thomas was visibly frustrated Wednesday night while scoring a game-high 27 points.  Why, you might ask?  Well, first off, his team was losing, but secondly, he wasn’t getting any calls.

There were multiple drives to the basket by Thomas that could have resulted in whistles that instead resulted in misses and Detroit taking the ball the other way.  He just didn’t get many 50-50 calls.

This has been a trend of late for Thomas.  He averaged 9.9 free throw attempts per game through the team’s first 14 games of the season.  However, that number has dropped to just 4.8 over the last four games, including three games of four or fewer free throws.

Thomas will always attack the basket.  The question is, will he get some whistles?  He hasn’t been getting many lately, and that has hurt the C’s offense.

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Watch It! – Kings at Celtics

DeMarcus Cousins will be on the floor at TD Garden Friday night when the Sacramento Kings take on the Boston Celtics.

Wednesday night in Philadelphia, Cousins, having a terrific season for the 7-11 Kings, did his best to mop the floor and make the game in Philadelphia playable. It was called off.

"I was trying to play," Cousins said, adding he'd "never seen the floor in conditions like that," and that "player safety should be considered first."

Cousins had reasons to want to play. First of all, it was a chance to face the lowly Sixers. Second, he's been on fire, coming off a loss at Washington where he had 36 points, 20 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

He is averaging 28.7 points, 10.4 rebounds and three assists per game and, over the last three, Cousins has a 35.3 scoring average while grabbing 13.3 rebounds per game.

While Al Horford has added a big body to the Boston attack, he is not the inside presence that can deter a big body like Cousins.

On Wednesday night, Detroit big man Andre Drummond scored 20 points and hauled down 17 rebounds and the Pistons outboarded the Celtics 50-33 in their second road win in as many nights.

The Pistons were on fire all night and came within one Ish Smith point of having all five starters score 20 points in the game.

"I think we have to get a little more nastier on the defensive end," offered Boston's Jae Crowder after Wednesday's loss. "Not let a team come in and get comfortable. It has not been an ongoing thing. It happened today and it happened a couple games but, for the most part, we've been trying to impose our will first. That's what our mindset is and that's the mindset going forward."

Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas, selected by the Kings as the last pick of the 2011 draft, scored 27 points Wednesday night and is having an outstanding season, averaging 26.1 points and 6.3 assists.

The key to Boston's offense, Thomas has taken at least 20 shots in each of the last six games and is shooting 39 percent (17-for-52) from 3-point range.

The Celtics won both games against Sacramento and have beaten the Kings eight straight times at TD Garden -- dating to the last Sacramento on victory Jan. 19, 2007.

Horford, who has missed 10 games already this season -- nine with a concussion and then Monday night's win at Miami for the birth of his second child -- only shot the ball five times Wednesday night, a number way too low for this team to succeed.

"That's the first thing I saw when I looked at the stat sheet," said Celtics coach Brad Stevens. "It's not enough. I know that. So we need to do a better job of making sure we put him in position to be successful."

20161202‑SACBOS

Al Horford Stuffs Kings with Record Performance

Keys to the Game: Celtics 97, Kings 92

Pregame Post-Ups: Cousins Riding Hottest Stretch of Career

Watch It! – Kings at Celtics

12/2 Game Preview: Kings at Celtics