The Boston Celtics will continue on with their preseason this weekend with two games at the TD Garden on back-to-back nights against the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors. They also play the Raptors on Tuesday on the road, making it three games in four days for Boston.

Al Horford will play this weekend after sitting out of the first two games in Abu Dhabi against the Denver Nuggets. Head coach Joe Mazzulla confirmed on Thursday that Horford will play in at least one of the games, maybe both, this weekend.

“Just ramping him up. We’re still talking about that. He’ll definitely play in one of them, maybe two, just kind of ramping him up and making sure he stays sharp. That’s all.”

Horford, 38-years-old, is coming off a 65-game season last year, averaging 26.8 minutes per game mostly off the bench, but he did start in 33-games for when Kristaps Porzingis was out with injury. He logged another 19-games in the playoffs, making it 84-games total in 2023-24.

In the regular season, he averaged 8.6 points per game on 51.1 percent shooting from the field and 41.9 percent from deep. Horford then averaged 9.2 points per game on 47.8 percent shooting from the field and 36.8 percent from behind the arc in the playoffs.

It’s important for the Celtics to maintain this level of production from Horford in this next season. One way of assuring that is by limiting his minutes throughout the season to keep him fresh and sharp, as Mazzulla said.

However, that’s easier said than done while Kristaps Porzingis is set to miss the beginning of the season recovering from a rare offseason leg surgery and Horford is likely expected to play more during his absence.

It’s worth mentioning that Luke Kornet started both preseason games in Abu Dhabi with the rest of the normal starters. But here’s what Mazzulla said about if Horford will be starting or coming off the bench to start the season with Porzingis out.

“Yeah, just doing whatever makes sense for the team. Obviously he’s been great for us both coming off the bench and starting, and so we just have to make that decision, whatever we think is best for the team at that time, we’ll do. And it’s a credit to him that he’s open-minded enough to know that. He’ll just do whatever’s best for the team.”

Since returning to Boston in 2021-22, Horford has played over 1,700 minutes in at least 63 games per season. This upcoming season, it’ll be ideal for Horford not to be playing upwards of 2,000 minutes in the regular season to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

1,500 minutes should be the ideal amount for Horford. Here is a breakdown of his games and minutes played:

• 2021-22 (35-years-old): 69-games, 2,005 minutes.
• 2022-23 (36-years-old): 63-games, 1,922 minutes.
• 2023-24 (37-years-old): 65-games, 1,740 minutes.

Horford again will also not be playing in back-to-back games this season. It’s another effort in trying to keep him fresh and ready for the playoffs.

It might be best to continue starting Kornet in the regular season for the overall continuity of the team. With Porzingis being out to start the season and Horford not playing in back-to-back games, it makes the most sense to have Kornet in the starting lineup.

Boston’s center position was once looked at as a deep group, however, Porzingis is missing the start of the season recovering from surgery, both Kornet and Xavier Tillman had offseason procedures, and Horford is 38-years-old. Neemias Queta enters the season healthy.

It’s going to take the entire position group to fill in for Porzingis in the early part of the year and beyond.

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