Horford in unusually foul mood
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
The Garden crowd got a rare glimpse of the other Al Horford last night, the one so perturbed by a call that he broke out of his placid game demeanor.
The Celtics center fouled out with two quick offensive foul calls with 9:42 left in the fourth quarter of the 90-89 loss to Miami. He disagreed so strongly with Marc Davis’ call on his fifth foul that Horford took out his mouthpiece, and got into an animated argument near the sideline with the referee, as Brad Stevens lodged his own complaint.
Play resumed, Horford attempted to fight through a pick near the 3-point line, and Davis immediately blew his whistle again.
“No. I don’t remember the last time I fouled out, to be honest. And never that early. That was — I was very surprised,” Horford said.
When it was pointed out to Horford that he rarely gets that upset, he said, “Early in the third quarter, I tried to catch the ball, same exact play, no call. It turned into a jump ball and then that happened and I get a foul called for that. Just frustrating. I guess I just need to focus on the game, not get caught up in that. But it was difficult.
“You can’t say anything, you really can’t. So I’m just going to keep it (that) I need to be better. And move on from this and get ready for tomorrow. That’s the good thing about the league, we have another one tomorrow.”
Tatum’s tale of tape
Jayson Tatum dislocated his right pinkie finger in the first quarter, popped it back into place while still on the floor, went to the locker room for an examination, and returned to the game with his finger taped.
He finished 4-for-9 from the floor and missed his only two 3-point attempts.
“I just like panicked. I just like grabbed my hand and tried to pull on it,” he said, adding that he may have been a little too conscious of trying to shoot with a taped pinkie.
Tatum said he has every intention of playing tonight against the Knicks.
Olynyk roles with it
Stevens and Miami coach Erik Spoelstra have similar reputations in the league for innovation, and the former has admittedly been impressed by how the latter is using his former player, Kelly Olynyk.
“They’re doing so many cool things (with Olynyk) I wish I would have done,” Stevens said before the game. “He fits perfect with how they play. Coach Spoelstra (has been) at the forefront of the things you can do with skilled bigs for a long time. They play him like a guard. A lot of teams run action where they throw it ahead to guards and sprint off, and fake handoffs, well, they run it with him. It’s a real problem at the (No.) 5, which he’s playing quite a bit of.” ...
Though he could have done without Olynyk going off for a team-high 32 points, Stevens thoroughly approved of him being honored by Celtics’ Hero Among Us program last night for his past work in the community.
“It’s great,” Stevens said. “Kelly was really active in the community, he’s a great guy, obviously played great for us and was a person I enjoyed being around every day.”
Theis noses way in
Though initially ruled out last night by the Celtics training staff, Daniel Theis was ready to go after having his broken nose reset on Tuesday.
“First, it was all about the concussion protocol. Two, when we went to the team doctor from Memphis, he said if I get it fixed, I could play the next day,” Theis said of the just-completed road trip, which began in Memphis. “We planned on doing it Tuesday morning. Originally, they said I would miss the game today, but the doctor yesterday said I could play with the mask. There’s no risk or anything.”
Theis didn’t score but had four rebounds in just over 18 minutes of playing time.
The main issue appears to be tolerating the protective mask for another three weeks.
“I don’t like it either. You can’t see through the sides when you turn your head. It just bothers you when something is on your face,” said Theis, who has been fitted for a more form-fitting mask, though he hasn’t worn it in a game yet. “(Trainer) Art (Horne) is not happy with it. So (tomorrow) morning, I go to the guy who does Kyrie (Irving’s) mask.”