The Philadelphia 76ers have been trying to nail down a certain offensive style all season as they try to figure out how to make this roster work. With their two main pieces, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, out for a little while, they have to now put that plan on hold and play to the strengths of this roster.
The Sixers have begun to simplify things as they try and hold down the fort until their main cogs can return. In Thursday’s win over the New York Knicks, they played a bit more through Al Horford at the elbows and allowed him to sort of be a “point forward”.
“I think it’s going well,” said Horford of the new offense. “We have to adjust, we have to play a different way. The guys are playing with pace and we’re trying to make the game easier for one another.”
A lot of their offensive success is going to be due to the fact that there will be more room for them out on the offensive end. There will be a little more space for guys to operate and this could allow Horford to thrive a bit and run some things.
In the past in his career, Horford would be the guy who runs things offensively from the big man spot and it would allow him to be successful on that end. The thing that has made Horford so successful in his career wasn’t him scoring big numbers, it was him doing a lot of different things, being versatile on offense.
He had nine assists on Thursday along with 15 points and seven rebounds. That is a class Horford game and he will get more opportunity without Simmons and Embiid to show that more.
“It comes with getting more touches and being able to make more plays,” he added. “Obviously, now that we have Ben and Joel out, the team needs me to do more of that and just being in those positions, you make plays and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Obviously, the Sixers are not better without Simmons and Embiid, but this does give them the opportunity to see how they can respond and see how they can operate without their two stars.
“There is a lot of freedom,” Horford finished with. “It’s just how the way the defense is playing. We do certain things and I think we took another step forward in that regard executing on offense.”
The big test will be the upcoming 4-game west coast swing starting on Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers. [lawrence-related id=26762,26753,26743]