The Boston Celtics kick off their title defense on Sunday against the Orlando Magic. The reigning champions will have home-court advantage for at least the first two rounds of the playoffs, and they are the overwhelming favorites (-150) on FanDuel Sportsbook to make the NBA Finals for the third time in four years.
They will, however, have a tougher path to the championship than last year. The Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks are better than any Eastern Conference opponent they faced last year, and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the West are coming off one of the most dominant regular seasons in NBA history.
That is why Boston has a smaller margin of error this time around. Head coach Joe Mazzulla can probably spend the first-round series tinkering and perfecting his playoff rotation.
Al Horford Must Play as Many Minutes as He Can Handle
One decision he will have to make is playing Al Horford more. The 38-year-old big man defied Father Time once again, playing at a high level on both ends of the floor. The Celtics were smart in giving him rest throughout the season, as the veteran only played in 60 games and averaged 27.7 minutes of action.
In the postseason, that average needs to get over 30 minutes per game. There are plenty of playoff teams that have a ton of size and deploy two-big lineups. The Celtics will likely need to play Kristaps Porzingis and Horford together for long stretches to keep up with the size and physicality of the likes of the Jarrett Allen-Evan Mobley duo in Cleveland, or the Chet Holmgren-Isaiah Hartenstein partnership in Oklahoma City.
Also, Jaylen Brown is banged up to start the postseason, and the Celtics could give some of his minutes to Horford instead of some of the weaker defensive options in Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard.
Plus, Horford is still one of the best six players on the team. Boston was 4.5 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor this season than off, per Cleaning the Glass. That is one of the better on/off differences on the team, and the Celtics would be wise to give him as many minutes as he can handle over the next month, or hopefully two.