OPINION:
The story of Al Horford and the Washington Wizards has been told before. But since this franchise continued to make one mistake after another following this failure, it’s important to tell it again and again, until the local NBA team finally does something right — you know, like the Boston Celtics have done 18 times to build championship rosters.
You know, like the one that won 64 games this year and went 16-3 in the playoffs, including winning four out of five over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals.
Horford is 38 years old and was second on the list of those playing in postseason games without an NBA title, with 185, until he became a champion in Boston’s clinching 106-88 victory Monday night.
“It’s been long — a lot of hard work, but I’m so proud to be a part of this team,” Horford said after the game. “I can’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. We did it. We’re here. I still can’t believe it.
This is just how I pictured it here at The Garden with our fans, everybody together, this is just how I saw it eight years ago.
“It’s special when you’re here at the Garden,” he said. “This is something I just don’t take for granted. The energy of the fans. Our fans, they love the Celtics. They want us to play hard, they want us to play the right way. And I just felt very connected with them tonight, with the way that we were playing, that we got it going.”
If that sounds familiar to you, it may be because this was one of the reasons that his father Tito gave when he chose Boston over Washington eight years ago as a sought-after free agent.
“There wasn’t as much motivation for him when he (Al) saw all the empty seats when they (Washington) were winning,” Tito said. “He said to me, ‘Dad, when we were playing Boston, they were down 15 points and they were cheering their team like they were winning the game. They’re so into the game.’ This is special for us, especially for him.”
It was a double dose of failure for Washington — Horford spurning the Wizards and then going to a division rival in a four-year, $113 million deal with the Celtics. It smacked them right in the face when the Wizards faced Horford in the Eastern Conference semifinals and lost in seven games. Horford averaged 17 points and 6.6 rebounds in seven games against the Wizards in that series. He spent four years with Boston, followed by stints with Philadelphia and Oklahoma City before returning to the Celtics in 2021.
Reminders of the ineptitude of the Wizards were hard to miss in this Celtics championship run — in addition to Horford, who never wore a Washington jersey, there was Kristap Porzingis, who averaged 20 points a game for Boston, and, though, injured for much of the finals, set the tone for the Celtics in Game 1 with 20 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.
It’s hard to believe that Porzingis spent parts of two seasons in Washington, averaging 23 points a night — and yet they won only 35 games in each of those years.
It’s almost like it never happened.
“Man, it feels great to be a champion,” Porzingis told reporters after the game.
This is history. The Wizards have entered a new era, under the direction of new team president Michael Winger and general manager Will Dawkins, and hope to build a winner like the Celtics, though that’s not exactly the blueprint. Boston drafted its two big stars, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, with the third picks in the 2016 and 2017 NBA drafts while still winning 53 and 55 games, thanks to trades for those picks by then-GM Danny Ainge.
Washington won just 15 games this past season to get the second pick in the upcoming draft. It’s going to be much more painful. Then again, watching Al Horford celebrating his NBA championship should have been painful. It’s all been painful for a very long time.
You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
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