Al Horford on Smart Tribute: “Boston Has REAL LOVE for Marcus | Celtics Postgame Interview

Al Horford on Smart Tribute: “Boston Has REAL LOVE for Marcus | Celtics Postgame Interview

Marcus for a long time and you know just seeing him again tonight what did it mean to you and what did kind of your time together with him mean to you here um it’s uh it was good to see him um good to see him today uh um my time

With uh uh with Marcus here was very special um uh you know and and I’ve said this before but you know one of the the reasons why I came here initially um in 16 was Isaiah Thomas and and Marcus Smart um um uh you know I had

A lot of respect for a smart even when he was you know a very young player and and just kind of how he cared about winning so um uh just uh you know just a a very special person um and uh somebody that um you know that I really

Appreciated uh when I when I was you know when he was here with us throughout the years and um so so just seeing him tonight was nice it was nice to catch up with him to see him he’s doing well and trying to recover from his injury um

That uh it was good to see him was it something he said to you at the time when you were coming here just wanting to play with him what kind of made that influence on you from his perspective uh he didn’t really have to say anything um

You know uh for him it was just uh just just the way he played how hard he played how hard he competed um uh and and and really try to go out there and and put his body on the line you know night in and night out and uh it’s

Something that you know as an opponent you respect it and as a team and you always appreciate Al during the timeout when they were showing the tribute video seemed like a lot of you guys were standing up watching it with him kind of cheering for him what was it like to

Kind of see the the response to that the crowd response and all of that throughout the course of the game yeah um it’s special you know it was special um to to be able to share those moments with him um I I knew that you know the

Crowd was going to be you know very grateful and appreciative and uh and and they were you know they were great they really showed their appreciation and um and it was nice to see not only Marcus but also you know his wife um and and

And you know and the people that were uh along with them you know that they were kind of taking everything in appreciating the moment and uh and feeling the love you know Boston you know has real love um you know for Marcus and um and even though he’s on

Another team it doesn’t change you know how how we feel about him uh as our our guys and and also the you know the fans show how they feel about him as well Al Marcus talked before about his I guess his leadership style he was like I

Might not like you every day but I always love you and there’s a lot of rough around the edges how did you see him grow as that kind of leader from the time that you ended up leaving the first time to coming back and how do you see

Kind of the legacy of how he led still live within the way that a lot of the guys that now are running this team are um yeah you know um Marcus uh you know just just a big competitor and and for him uh what I saw from from him was uh

You know really saying things you know kind of how they were and um and and holding people accountable in in different ways and uh and and defensively always you know trying to lead us so um you know that influence is something that um that that he brought

To our group uh that uh um you know the the the physicality the emotion um the um the the wits you know defensively and anticipation a lot of the times things like that and I think that we all benefited from it and um I feel like we

All um uh definitely have taken things from some some of things that he did defensively and kind of uh been able to turn it um you know he he would always talk I would always you know talk with him about defensive stuff and um I know

Jaylen did as well and um that influence with was you know it was uh it it has left this smk here and he was always willing to challenge people like this day and age with how kind of big celebrities big- time players can be and all the money involved it’s kind of hard

To be willing to challenge like the big star so how important was it for him to do that um well I mean you know he I feel like he he had an understanding at times if he needed to do it he did it um uh but the only thing you can respect with

Him was just uh how how he came into play how um you know he got out there even if he wasn’t 100% and um and that’s why he was able to to talk to anybody and and stand up to anybody and people would have to listen to him and uh and and respect

Him questions um regarding the game like two of your first bucket came from transition where you were exploiting a mismatch and like we like the Celtics start the game with two big men um so did you try to emphasize like the size Advantage is was it part of the game

Plane or it was just like aard um it it was it was just honestly the way that it that that it kind of was um uh you know we wanted to you know get out and play fast and um and usually christops is the one that we’re looking for in in the

Post mostly but I was running in the wing and and you know I felt like I had a mismatch I just you know just went in the basket try to create something um if they try to get a layup and if not if they double then I was going to kick it

Out and um and that but um when when we’re double bigs um you know I I would look to be more aggressive at times because we’re usually we’re going to be there’s going to be some sort of mismatch out there so you you do want to be aggressive and take take advantage of

Those moments clear thank you Al you spent nine seasons in Atlanta and now you’ve had so many other chapters to your career Marcus spent nine Seasons here and he’s starting the first non- Boston chapter what advice would you or have you given him about what it looks like to make that

Transition and how to wish cast for what comes next um yeah uh you know I think that the this was a big first step if I if I had to say going back and playing at a place for the first time um there’s a lot of emotion that they go into it and

Um and and as we’ve been talking about Marcus was such a part of our community here in Boston so I think that’s the first step um for him now that he’s kind of gotten that behind him um I feel like you know he’ll be able to um not that he was wasn’t

Already looking ahead but he’ll be able to really kind of lock in and you know put this behind him and and try to start um you know the next uh steps in in his career so I I would say like now you know it’s like obviously focusing on his

Health making sure that he’s healthy and then uh where wherever you know whatever he has to do next um to get back on the floor and um and and start developing um you know just something new um building something new I should say you know you

Know here his time kind of ran its course and now like he has to you know find a way to start building up again so that that was kind of my mindset you know with my first transition it was like okay like put that behind me and

Now you know let’s let’s start working towards um something else thank you yeah

BOSTON — Following the Celtics’ commanding 131-91 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, Al Horford shared his feelings about the tribute video for Marcus Smart, highlighting the emotional moment of the night. “Boston has real love for Marcus… and even though he’s on another team, it doesn’t change how we feel about him,”

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