The Suns set early Thursday night in Boston just as Al Horford started rising.
The Celtics' ageless ray of sunshine torched the Phoenix Suns with one of the best shooting performances of his life, scoring 24 points on a career-high-tying 6-of-10 clip from 3-point range, while helping Boston to a 127-112 win at TD Garden.
Horford scored more points than Kevin Durant (20). He scored more points than Devin Booker (23). He scored more points than Bradley Beal (22). And he scored more points than any other player on the Suns' roster.
The only players he did not outscore were Jaylen Brown (37) and Jayson Tatum (26), as the trio of longtime teammates turned back the clock like it was 2019, combining for 87 points.
For Horford, 2019 was the last time he scored at least 24 points in a Celtics uniform (Jan. 16, 2019, vs. Toronto). It marked just the fourth time in his career that he sunk six 3-pointers.
He attributed his high-volume shooting to his teammates creating open looks for him throughout the night.
“I think we did a good job reading the game quickly, and then also our guys getting to the paint and then the rest of us kind of benefitted from that,” Horford said. “So they were attacking at the paint and then once the defense converges, they’re kicking the ball out and we continued to do that time in and time out. It seemed like we made the right play for most of the night.”
Outscoring Durant is not something that Horford has done often in his career. Of the 28 career matchups they’ve had since entering the league together in 2007, this was only the second time that Horford held an advantage. The only other instance was a Nov. 4, 2012 matchup between the Atlanta Hawks and Oklahoma City Thunder in which Horford edged KD, 23-22.
“It’s pretty special just because a lot of years in the league, seen a lot, played in a lot of games,” Horford said of his history with Durant. “Kevin does a good job of taking care of his body and still playing at a very high level – an MVP-type level. And for me, it’s continuing to take care of myself the best way that I can, and so it’s pretty cool to see.”
It’s cool for Horford’s teammates to see, as well. Jayson Tatum, who entered the league seven seasons ago with Horford as one of his mentors, always shows excitement whenever Big Al turns up like this.
“It means everything,” Tatum said. “We have so much love and respect for Al and the things that he's accomplished in this league. We understand how valuable he is to our team: his presence on and off the court, his voice, the way he goes about his job every single day, showing up, being there for us, the ultimate teammate. He’s somebody we're really lucky to have.”
He's also somebody who can still heat up on the offensive end when the opportunity arises. On Thursday night, he was hotter than any of the Suns.