Al Horford's Top Career Performances

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As a four-time All-Star, you can bet that new Celtics acquisition Al Horford has had plenty of elite efforts during his nine-year career. We at Celtics.com sifted through each of the center's 652 regular season and playoff games with Atlanta and picked out the top five performances of his career. This should give you a sneak peak of what Horford is capable of bringing to the table during the upcoming season and beyond with the C's.

Horford made a total of three 3-pointers during his first five NBA seasons. On Dec. 29, 2015, he nearly doubled that total in one game. While facing the Houston Rockets, Horford knocked down a career-high five treys on seven attempts, which contributed to his 30-point total. He also grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out a pair of dimes during the 121-115 win. The 3-ball was not a part of Horford’s game until last season. During his first eight campaigns, he was 21-for-65 from deep, but last year he bought into the evolution of the stretch big and knocked down 88 of his 256 attempts for a respectable 34.4 percent clip. Horford told Celtics.com last November, “Being able to improve something in my game is something that I take a lot of pride in. I’m always trying to add something to my game, and [3-point shooting] is something that I worked on and I feel good about.”

Horford has been one of the best two-way centers in the league over the last decade. He demonstrated that well-roundedness to perfection on Dec. 26, 2009 in Indianapolis. On the offensive end, the then-23-year-old took care of business against 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert, scoring 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting. Defensively, he had the best rebounding night of his career to that point, as he corralled 17 rebounds off of Indiana’s misses and held Hibbert to six points and four boards. The 19 total rebounds were a season high, as were his five blocked shots during the 110-98 win. Horford’s holiday spirit didn’t stop there; on New Years day he posted a nearly identical stat line when he scored 22 points on 11-of-14 shooting, grabbed 19 boards and blocked three shots.

Horford was not selected to the All-Star Game during the 2012-13 season. Shortly after the break, he proved why he should have been. The big man experienced the biggest week of his NBA career, as he totaled 80 points, 48 rebounds, nine blocks and nine assists during a three-game stretch to close out the month of February. On the 23rd, he notched 23 points and 11 boards in Milwaukee, and hit a game-winner with 5.9 seconds remaining to lift the Hawks to a 103-102 victory. Two days later, he had the best rebounding performance of his career, when he corralled 22 boards and scored 23 points in an 11-point win over Detroit. Horford capped off the week with a career-high 34-point effort on the 27th against the Jazz, which also included 15 rebounds, a season-best five blocks and three assists. It’s worth noting that all three of those performances occurred on the road. Horford’s impressive string of games set the tone for an All-Star worthy stretch run, as he averaged 19.7 points, 11.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game during his final 26 contests of the season.

What better way to celebrate the 20th of a month than with a 20-20 performance? Horford did just that on Nov. 20, 2010, when he tallied 20 points and grabbed a season-high 20 boards against Dallas, to go along with five assists and three blocks. He went toe-to-toe with one of the top rim protectors in the league, Tyson Chandler, but managed to have an extremely efficient night, shooting 10-of-12 from the field. Horford also led Atlanta on a furious fourth-quarter rally. The Hawks trailed 90-77 with 5:15 remaining, but he scored eight points to guide them on a 16-4 run, which cut the deficit to one point with 15 seconds remaining. Dallas, however, would seal the game with four free throws during the closing seconds and took home a 98-93 win.

Horford may have nine NBA campaigns under his belt and 30 years to his name, but he showed this past season that there is no sign of him slowing down. On Jan. 9, 2016, he went up against Chicago’s powerful frontcourt of Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic and Taj Gibson and turned in arguably the most well-rounded performance of his career. Horford made a career-best 15 shots on 21 attempts, which translated into a season-high 33-point effort. He added 10 boards, six assists, four blocked shots and did not turn the ball over. He also limited his counterpart, Gasol, to his least productive effort during the month of January, as the six-time All-Star was held to month-lows of 10 points and seven rebounds. Horford solidified the career effort by scoring 12 points during the fourth quarter to help the Hawks pull away for a 120-105 win.