Situations like Thursday is why the Philadelphia 76ers went out and signed Al Horford in the offseason. They needed a guy who could come in and give the Sixers a legitimate presence in the middle when Joel Embiid goes out and Thursday, they really needed him.
With Embiid sidelined for at least 1-2 weeks after deciding to undergo surgery Friday in New York, the Sixers needed Horford to come through and he did so in a big way in a 109-98 win over the Boston Celtics. He had 17 points, eight rebounds, and six assists as well as having one of his best games defensively of the season as he did a great job of defending the pick-and-roll and bothering ball handlers.
“I think he had one of his better defensive games tonight,” said Ben Simmons who had 19 points and nine rebounds. “Coming up a little bit more and being effective with his hands and getting in there. I think everybody played a huge role tonight, but Al definitely played a great game.”
Horford had a rough December as his numbers dipped from the solid start to the season in November and he was dealing with an injury. That was not the case on Thursday.
“I thought Al Horford tonight, both sides of the ball, gave us life and toughness and offensive rebounding,” said coach Brett Brown. “I thought he was really good.”
Considering the circumstances, the win was impressive for the Sixers. They just found out right before the game that they were going to be without Embiid for at least a week or two due to the surgery and to be able to grind out this win against a very good Celtics team is good for their psyche.
“It’s impressive,” said Horford. “I’m proud of the group because, down early, things weren’t looking too great for us and in the second quarter I told the guys ‘Let’s just stay with it and continue to work. We need to step our defense up.’ and once we were able to close that gap a little bit at halftime, I feel like that gave us some confidence going into the second half.”
Nonetheless, the Sixers picked up a huge win and it was a win that shows how good they can be with Horford there at the 5 and he can hold it down until Embiid returns. This is the type of game that they can take moving forward and get them back on the winning track. [lawrence-related id=23161,23154,23147]