The Boston Celtics relayed they will have veteran big man Al Horford available to play against the Miami Heat in Game 2 of their 2022 NBA Eastern Conference finals series Thursday night. Presumably, the University of Florida product has cleared the league’s health and safety protocols with the requisite two negative tests in a 24-hour period, with multiple sources reporting that the Boston big man was waiting on test results to clear him to exit the protocol.
This development considerably expands Boston’s frontcourt rotation and augments the team considerably on both ends of the court, Horford quietly being a major cog in what was the No. 1 defense in the league’s 2021-22 regular season and an efficient source of shooting for the Celtics in the 2022 NBA Playoffs’ earlier rounds.
With reserve guard Derrick White Boston-bound for the birth of his first child, the Celtics will remain a little thin in the backcourt until they know whether veteran point guard Marcus Smart will be available to return from a sprained foot sustained in Game 7 of the last round.
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