The Celtics player achieved what other Dominicans could only dream of, by reaching the first final for a basketball player from the Caribbean country.
Forty-four years must have passed since the first Dominican was selected in a Rookie Draw of the National Basketball Association (NBA) so that another could become the first from the Caribbean nation to reach a final series.
As if it were a movie script, that first Dominican was Tito Horfordfather of Al Horfordwho by supporting Boston Celtics to defeat Miami Heatby a score of 100 points to 96, reached the first final in the history of the NBA for a player of Dominican origin. Horford He achieved it in his 15th season and at 35 years old.
It’s not like Horford would not have been close to achieving it, in fact, the series of the Eastern Conference contra Miami It is his fourth, after in the past he was eliminated three times by Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliersincluding the 2018 season, where they took the final to seven games.
Los Celtics They came out with everything from the start of Game 7, leading by six points at the end of the half. Nevertheless, Jimmy Butler he was extraordinary throughout the game, even racking up 71 points in his final 71 minutes (counting the 45 in game six), while shooting 60 percent from the field in that stretch.c
Horford on his side, he was an unstoppable machine on the defensive side of the ball. Two blocks in the opening minutes of the game, including one to completely block a 3-point shot, are some of the Dominican’s highlights in perhaps the most important game of his career thus far.
“-Gentleman, I told him to take his ball to another place, it doesn’t go here”
– Al Horford (probably????) pic.twitter.com/C7GE9wdiGW
— ESPN.com.do???????? (@ESPN_DO) May 30, 2022
With the victory of Celtics, Horford broke his streak as the active player with the most playoff games played in the history of the NBA, without having reached a final series. During the course of this postseason and counting the seventh game against the Heatreached the sum of 141 games, a streak that has finally been broken.
The Dominican culminated his performance with five points, 14 rebounds and 3 assists, while completing 22.2 percent of the field goals, in what was a bad offensive game. However, his two blocks and a steal of the ball were vital for Boston could be crowned champion It is from NBA.
