WALTHAM, Mass. -- The first time Al Horford visited TD Garden -- just five games into his NBA career -- he couldn't stop looking skyward at the Boston Celtics' 16 championship banners that hung above the parquet floor. Horford admits he was hypnotized by the symbols of Boston's winning tradition. He ultimately made six trips to Boston that season as the Celtics defeated Horford's Atlanta Hawks in a thrilling seven-game series in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs en route to claiming a 17th world title.
Nine years later, the 30-year-old Horford wore his new Celtics' No.