The biggest emotion for Al Horford after his Philadelphia 76ers' debut?
Relief.
“Yeah, no question," Horford answered when asked if he's glad to have the meeting with his old team out of the way. "When I saw the schedule I was like, ‘First game of the season?’ but it was good. Just relieved from that part and also very happy, very happy we got the win tonight.”
Horford had 16 points on 5-for-13 shooting in the Sixers' 107-93 victory over the Celtics.
The veteran big man, 33, opted out with the Celtics after three productive seasons there and signed a four-year, $109 million contract to join the rival 76ers. Besides the familiar faces he was now seeing as an opponent, Horford also got to experience what others who have been guarded by Marcus Smart go through when he objected to an offensive foul call against him when Smart hit the deck in the first half.
“Yeah, they were fouls, too. At the time I didn’t think they were but the ref actually told me he saw it halftime and said that I moved. Marcus does such a good job of flopping, though, like, you know, selling it. Just making sure. He does that. That’s what he does. When I was on his side I loved it, I thought it was great. But now, he got me. He got me pretty good.”
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