The Philadelphia 76ers are still working out a lot of kinks as they continue to see what will work with their giant frontline of Joel Embiid and Al Horford. The spacing issue has come up a lot for them offensively, but on Monday, the two worked the hi-low game pretty well with Embiid working the high post and Horford working down low.
Embiid played through a dislocated finger and had a solid stat line of 18 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists while Horford had 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting with most of his work being in the post. Some of that could be due to Embiid’s injury as he didn’t want to aggravate it even more.
“I think a little bit of both. I thought Al’s mentality last night was bullish,” said coach Brett Brown. “Whether he had Gallo (Danilo Gallinari) on him, he had Mike Muscala on him, he sniffed some blood. He took advantage of it and he got into that bully ball game and deep catch and physicality with his mentality as much as anything. I think when he did that, Jo recognized it.”
It has still been a huge work in progress between Embiid and Horford as they still need to find their roles on what they want to do offensively, and that is why Brown has started to call plays rather than let it flow naturally, but Embiid sees good potential with the paring.
“It’s getting better,” said the star big man. “We’re still working through some stuff, especially offensively we’ve been struggling a little bit. It’s not just me and Al, as a team we’re still finding ways how to compliment each other so everybody’s still trying to find their role. So it’s not just him. He’s been great, a great addition, a great guy.”
Monday’s performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder was a bit of a breakout for Horford who had been struggling in the entire month of December. While Brown wants him to continue shooting 3-pointers to space the floor, he was happy with his new big man down the post and his mindset to dominate.
“I thought it was derived mostly from Al’s tremendous mentality,” the coach added. “I really liked his disposition and his mentality with some of his deep catches and determination to get the ball in the post.”
The Sixers will continue to work out the kinks when it comes to this pairing, but for the most part, this is a new positive for them moving forward. Maybe they can use the hi-low option on offense to find some more success on that end of the floor. [lawrence-related id=22923,22910,22902]