The Philadelphia 76ers were already down superstar big man Joel Embiid with his hand injury so it would have hurt them even more if they were to lose to Al Horford to his own hand injury. The Sixers big man was a game-time decision on Monday, but he ended up making big plays down the stretch to help the Sixers to a 117-111 win over the Brooklyn Nets on the road.
Horford finished with 19 points, six rebounds, and two blocks with one of them coming late to preserve the victory. He also made a couple of big shots from around the foul line as well to really lift the Sixers to this win. As dominant as Ben Simmons was, Horford’s contributions were big late.
“Huge, huge, huge,” said Simmons. “He’s a beast down low, especially defensively, that block at the end, it was major for us. Everybody chipped in and made plays to keep the energy going.”
Both of Horford’s blocks came in the fourth quarter and he had nine points in the quarter alone. He scored five of those points in the final 1:22 of the game including a big 3-pointer to give Philadelphia some breathing room.
“Yeah, I think for our group we kept talking about that we could win the game going into the half as bad as we played in the first half,” said the veteran big man. “Then I think Ben’s energy was contagious. At the level that he was playing, that kind of rubbed off on all of us. We just stepped our game up and played free and played hard.”
This is why the Sixers brought him in. He needs to give this team a big lift when it is needed especially with Embiid out with the injury.
“I thought Al Horford had some adult moves late in the fourth period and made some perimeter shots,” Brown added. “I only found out he was going to play when I came into the arena. Al Horford’s determination to fight through stuff with his hand is true and how about some of the plays that he made either on blocked shots in front of our bench or just bully ball at its finest? He was great tonight.”
Horford knew that there was going to be some banging on that hand of his. This is the NBA and nobody is going to feel sorry for him at this point and he had to battle through that and make some plays for his team.
“That happens and I knew that was going to happen,” Horford said of the Nets going for his hand. “I can deal with that kind of discomfort that I’ve experienced. Not like this, but similar and I was fine.”
The Sixers will now head north of the border and take on the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday to conclude the quick road trip. [lawrence-related id=23939,23914,23905]