Between incidents and absences: The matches between Dominicans in the 2021 season

Al Horford is ruled out this Sunday when KAT and the Timberwolves visit the Boston Celtics

This Sunday the TD Garden could have been the stage for one of the most important games for Dominican NBA fans with the confrontation between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Boston Celtics.

However, as has been a constant during the campaign, one of the Dominican stars of the league will not be able to see action.

Al Horford has been ruled out for the match on March 27 at 6 p.m. for personal reasons.

Due to fate or bad luck, all the matches between Dominicans so far in the 2021-22 season have had some absence, which mars the show for fans on the half-island of the Caribbean.

The first confrontation between the Dominican players Karl Towns and Chris Duarte it was going well. A battled match, where both Dominicans were key to their respective teams on November 29, 2021.

However, towards the end of the game, Duarte ended up being expelled after complaining to the referees, and finished with 21 minutes of action and 14 points off the bench in the Pacers’ 100-98 loss to the Timberwolves.

The Dominican rookie later lamented in an exclusive interview with ESPNDigital not being able to make a formal introduction to Towns, whom he did not know at the time.

What would be the first confrontation between KAT and Al Horford came a month later, on December 27, but Covid-19 was a big factor in that match, since the Timberwolves star was within the protocol established at that time. and could not see action.

Horford finished with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists in Minnesota’s 108-103 victory over the Celtics.

At the beginning of January a special occasion arrived since it would be the first time that two players from Puerto Plata in the figures of Horford and Duarte would face each other but it was not like that.

Duarte was out of action in those days for the birth of his daughter, a much more special occasion, and the duel between the two did not take place in the Celtics’ 101-98 victory on Jan. 10. Being back-to-back games with a rest day in between, on January 12, Duarte was not present in the second victory of the Celtics 119-100.

On February 27, Independence Day of the Dominican Republic, it was scheduled to be one of the most interesting confrontations in the NBA for the Dominicans with the possible duel between Chris Duarte and Al Horford. However, the duel never happened since the Celtics player was out for rest.

The last possible matchup would occur on April 1 with the Indiana Pacers visiting the Boston Celtics at 7:30 p.m.