It’s official: Alfred Joel Goad Horford Reynoso, known as Al Horford, is in the NBA Finals. The Dominican player and 5-time NBA All-Star clinched a berth to his first NBA Finals on May 29 when the Boston Celtics defeated the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals by 100-96. As of this week, the Boston Celtics will now play against the Golden State Warriors for the NBA Championship.
Horford, a veteran who has played for the Hawks, the 76ers, the Thunder, and the Celtics, in a career that has spanned 15 seasons, needed 141 playoff games to reach his first NBA Final, a record. Now he and the Celtics will look to shock the Golden State Warriors, clear favorites to win the title.
“We’re here in Miami really close to [Dominican Republic],” Horford said after the win. “I know my family’s happy. Everybody’s happy. Everybody’s watching. The country was watching. I know everybody was there. They were sending me pictures. They were ready for this. We’re enjoying this one.”
Horford, whose father, Tito, became the first Dominican-born player to play in the NBA when the Milwaukee Bucks drafted him in the 1988 NBA draft, is no stranger to making history. And though reaching the NBA Finals is just another step in what the Boston Celtics hope to achieve, it means a lot for Al Horford, his family, and an entire country that has always supported him. It means there’s more of Horford to enjoy.
And it means there are more games to watch.
The NBA Finals, which will feature the Boston Celtics against the Golden State Warriors, will begin Thursday at 9:00ET.