The Philadelphia 76ers may have let a 24 point lead slip away in a scrimmage loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Orlando on Sunday, but there were some good signs that the team could take away from this one.
With Joel Embiid sidelined with a right calf injury, coach Brett Brown had to turn to Al Horford to start in his place. The veteran responded with 13 points and he made 4-for-5 from deep and nine rebounds in the loss. It was a performance that the Sixers could definitely use more of going forward and on top of that, he was vocal.
“He had a spirit about him playing, he had a confidence about him playing, he was communicative on defense, he really played,” said Brown after the game. “He came in and you pay attention to his 3-point shots that stand out the most, but I thought overall he was a great voice behind all of the things we were doing. He was really good in timeouts.”
Ben Simmons, who had another strong game of 14 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists and he was also happy with Horford’s performance. However, he was not surprised. This is Al Horford, after all. He’s a proven player in this league.
“That’s Al. That’s what he does,” said Simmons. “He’s a great player, team-first guy, his IQ on the court is amazing, he knows how to play the game well, defensively he can move his feet, and having him here has been great. We’re only getting better, more confident, our chemistry is getting a lot better just the more we play.”
Horford is a 5-time All-Star in the NBA and he has been deep into the playoffs plenty of times in his career. These types of all-round performances come naturally for him.
“I know what I’m capable of,” Horford explained. “For me, it’s just going out there and I thought today we played with a good rhythm, a good pace throughout the game. Ben setting the tone for us, J-Rich (Josh Richardson), just down the list. Guys being very active especially defensively and I just feel like that fuels all of our team and our offense. We used our length well and that’s kind of contagious. Especially when those guys bring it at that level, it just gets all of us going as well.”
The Sixers will certainly need more performances such as this one out of Horford when the season does officially resume on August 1 for them and then leading into the playoffs. He can make a real difference for them on both ends of the floor. [lawrence-related id=35523,35516,35510]