Couch: Al Horford, Xavier Tillman share traits that make them ideal big men for the NBA champion Boston Celtics

If you had to choose two big men to play important complementary roles on an NBA team that’s only priority is winning, Al Horford and Xavier Tillman would be among the top choices. The Boston Celtics — who won the NBA championship on Monday night — certainly saw their value.

The presence of both Horford and Tillman, in some ways, explains these Celtics — deep, battle-tested, selfless, full of complementary players who understand their roles and players whose greatest strength is enhancing their team’s chances of winning.

That’s been Horford and Tillman forever.

Horford, a son of Lansing and Grand Ledge High School, is still an effective player at age 38, starting most of these playoffs as center Kristaps Porzingis has dealt with lower leg injuries. Horford might not defend as he once did, but his acumen on both ends, ability to see the what’s transpiring at a high level and stretch a defense with his shot, makes him a savvy and serviceable starter and ideal backup center for a team with title aspirations. He’s played 30 minutes a night in these playoffs, averaging 9.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists and hitting close to two 3-pointers per game in 19 games.

Tillman, an MSU legend and Grand Rapids native, has played in eight of the Celtics’ 19 playoff games this season, three times reaching doubles figures in minutes and three times playing important minutes in close games — none more prominent than Game 3 of the NBA Finals, when he memorably hit a corner 3-pointer (his only shot), hauled in four rebounds and blocked two shots in 11 minutes, while often defending Dallas star Luka Doncic on switches. That ability — something we saw him master at MSU — is why the Celtics went to Tillman in that game with Porzingis out. He’s turned himself into a valuable insurance policy, which is why Boston traded for him in February.

Ironically, the player the Celtics sent to Memphis (along with two second-round picks) for Tillman, former Penn State star Lamar Stevens, was one of the four Big Ten stars Tillman proved his defensive versatility against during the notable final fews games of his MSU career.

MORE: Couch: Where Xavier Tillman ranks among Michigan State's all-time greats

"We've always liked Xavier,” Celtics president Brad Stevens told reporters at the time of the trade. “He is, obviously, big and strong (and) moves his feet well laterally, so he's been able to guard a number of people at a number of different positions well. Above that, he plays the game for the right reasons. He competes, he passes, thinks the game well, all the stuff that we've been fortunate with the guys we have around our best players, that they've brought to the table; he knows how to play.”

Not so different than Horford in that sense.

Among the reasons the Celtics made a trade to reaquire Horford in 2021, Stevens said: “(He) has a good feel for not only playing with our guys, but also has made them better. … The ability to space, pass, play in different ways and play in different coverages at the other end.”

Until Monday, an NBA title was about all that eluded Horford — a 2004 Grand Ledge graduate who won two national championships at the University of Florida in his three years there. In league history, only Karl Malone had played in more NBA playoff games than Horford without winning it all.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” Horford told the Boston Globe on Monday night. “I’m going through the emotions right now, but I don’t feel like it’s over. The confetti [is falling], everything is going on, but it just hasn’t hit me yet.”

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A player as devoted to and as successful at winning as Horford deserves to taste an NBA championship. Only twice in a 17-year career with the Hawks, Celtics, Sixers and Oklahoma City has Horford’s team failed to win more than half of its games — his rookie season in Atlanta and his lone year with the Thunder, when he barely played. In 10 seasons, his teams have won more than 60% of their games, including this season in Boston, which went 64-18 in the regular season and then 16-3 in the playoffs. 

He’s a five-time all-star who, at his peak, twice averaged more than 17 points per game and, for six seasons, hovered around double-digit rebounds per night. As his rebounding numbers declined slightly later in his career, he four times averaged four assists per game or better. Once a borderline headliner, he’s settled perfectly in the role of complementary player, ideal for a Celtics team with Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown and other guards, wings and shooters who need him to be someone who helps glue it all together.

“He gave everything to this team,” Porzingis said of Horford to the Globe. “He deserves it more than anybody.”

His career is far more accomplished than Tillman’s. But their are similarities — their on-court intelligence, ability to explain the game, the understanding and execution of their roles, the addition a 3-point shot after the beginning of their NBA careers. They are desired as teammates, which, for Tillman, along with his notable defensive abilities, will likely keep him on winning NBA rosters for a decade. 

Jaylen Brown’s interesting Lansing ties

Celtics’ wing and NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, like Horford and Tillman, has some ties to both Lansing and MSU. Brown’s father, Marselles, played basketball and boxed at Lansing Community College in the late 1980s and then fought out of Lansing for a while, with the title of the world’s tallest heavyweight, at 6-foot-11 with an 86-inch reach. Marselles, who grew up in Ohio before coming to Lansing, fought four world champions, including Tommy Morrison (after a break to attend MSU), during a notable career, which early on included a number of fights at Lansing's Civic Center.

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.