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The Atlanta Hawks welcome Al Horford and the Boston Celtics to Phillips Arena on Friday evening. Will fans boo Horford’s return?
Friday night is going to be lit, as the kids say. The Atlanta Hawks return home after a perfect 4-0 road trip, and who do they find waiting for them? That’s right, the hated Boston Celtics. If you’ll take a moment to reflect, you might remember that these two teams played a fairly spicy playoff series last April. The Hawks were victorious, winning in six games, but that didn’t end the drama.
In the time that has passed the match-up has only gotten more intriguing. Last summer, Al Horford signed a four-year, $113 million contract with the Boston Celtics, leaving the Hawks after nine seasons with the organization.
In his nine seasons with the team, Horford averaged 14.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game on 53.5 percent shooting and 34 percent from three-point range. He was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team four times over that span, and Atlanta made the playoffs in all nine seasons that Horford was a Hawk.
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The peak of Horford’s Hawks tenure came during the 2014-15 season. That year he averaged 15.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game on 53.8 percent shooting. Horford and the rest of Atlanta’s starting five were named player of the month in January, four of those five were named All-Stars, and the team won 60 games.
They were the 1st seed in the Eastern Conference that season, ahead of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, the season would end in heartbreak. Various injuries, and running up against the buzz-saw that is LeBron, led to a four-game sweep at the hands of the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Last season, things regressed. The Hawks won 48 games, tied for the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference. They beat the Celtics in their first round series, but once again were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers. This time the sweep occurred in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Horford knew that those Hawks had peaked. As long as LeBron James was in the Eastern Conference, Atlanta’s ceiling was losing to him in whatever round they met his team. That’s a difficult reality to face, but it’s accurate.
He made a business decision to leave. It’s not right or wrong. It’s just a choice he made. It’s like a lawyer moving to a different firm or teacher moving to a different school. It’s not personal. It just feels personal because of the obsessive nature of sports fandom.
It’s never easy when a fan favorite leaves town. I remember when Tom Glavine signed with the New York Mets after the 2002 MLB season. Greg Maddux then left for the Chicago Cubs after the 2003 season. I was heartbroken. Still, I remember them fondly as two of my favorite players of all-time. If you can forgive someone for becoming a Met you can forgive anything.
Listen, I get it. I understand why some fans might be angry at Horford. Sports fandom is inherently irrational. The word fanatic is defined by Webster’s as “marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion.” The uncritical part doesn’t really hold up, but the rest is accurate. Fans love their favorite players with unwavering devotion, until they leave town.
Horford left Atlanta and signed with a rival organization. He left, and that hurts. That doesn’t take away what he did in Atlanta. Horford worked relentlessly for nine years to be the best player he could be for the Hawks. He came back from difficult injuries, he constantly found ways to improve his game, and he was a model citizen off the court.
He was also an integral part of a 60-win team that made the Eastern Conference Finals. Those memories don’t become less special because he wears green now. Choosing to remember his time as a Hawk as anything other than special robs yourself of memories that should be cherished. Don’t rob yourself. It’s not nice.
You can boo the Boston Celtics as a team. You can boo Brad Stevens. You can boo Isaiah Thomas. Heck, you can boo every last Celtic on the roster. You can boo the guys that fill up the Gatorade jugs. But please, I beg of you, don’t boo Al Horford.
You’re probably still going to boo him, I know that. I had to try, didn’t I? Shooters shoot.
