Al Horford gets questionable technical foul in Celtics win over Nets

Al Horford put together his best performance of the young season on Saturday night during a spot start for the Celtics against the Nets. The 37-year-old posted eight points, along with seven rebounds and was a team-best plus-29 as Boston won their fifth straight game to open the season in Brooklyn despite the absence of Derrick White due to family reasons.

Horford ended up putting the finishing touches on the win in the closing two minutes of the fourth quarter with an alley-oop dunk in transition off a pass from Jaylen Brown. At age 37, Horford took his time to release the rim after the jam to ensure a soft landing for his seasoned legs but one official thought Horford was spending a little too much time to come down. Surprisingly, Horford was whistled for a technical foul after he landed for hanging on the rim.

The call was inconsequential since the Celtics held a 119-105 lead with 1:28 remaining when the technical was handed out. However, Horford couldn’t help but laugh at the call with Brown as he walked back up the floor.

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Horford is one of the oldest active players in the league at this point and clearly wanted to ensure he was playing it safe with his body after a high-flying play. In this game and others around the league, NBA officials have shown a quick trigger at times not giving players the benefit of the doubt when they are trying to land safely after a dunk.

Ultimately, Horford showed he still had plenty in those aging legs on Saturday night as he played a season-high 30 minutes despite facing off against an uptempo Nets squad that played five guards/wings for the majority of the contest together. Horford and Boston will face a far different challenge on Monday night in Minnesota against a frontline featuring Karl Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert.