BOSTON — Al Horford spent the bulk of the offseason working on his outside shooting, and it paid off for the Celtics in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference finals series with the Heat on Wednesday night.
The self-proclaimed “elite shooter” drained his first 3-pointer in the second quarter, putting the Celtics on top, 55-47, prompting Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra to call a timeout. But Horford couldn’t resist playing the role of an instigator, hilariously taking a knee and signaling for a timeout while staring directly at Miami’s bench.
As expected, Horford’s antic was received tremendously well by the TD Garden home crowd.
Watch Horford give Miami the universal timeout T hand signal here, courtesy of Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston.
Having done so several times in the regular season, including in the semifinal round against the Philadelphia 76ers, Horford’s subtle, yet effective, taunt is quickly becoming a staple of his.
The Celtics proceeded to walk into halftime with a 66-57 lead over the Heat after a back-and-forth first two frames. Horford recorded seven points, two assists and three steals, registering a plus-13 rating in 15 minutes in the first half.
Celtics teammate Jaylen Brown did criticize the home crowd’s energy prior to Game 7 with the Sixers, so perhaps Horford’s trolling will do just the trick, right?
Boston is seeking a series-opening victory, hoping to make effective use of its homecourt advantage before the series heads over to Miami for Games 3 and 4.
