Al Horford is not having the year everybody had hoped when he signed a four-year deal this summer.
His fit next to Joel Embiid has been clunky as he’s shot just 32.9 percent from three and struggled to provide the floor spacing this team desperately needs. It’s a part of the reason the Sixers have underperformed. It’s also led a certain sector of the fan base to question if Horford is a “sleeper cell” for his former team.
In Friday night’s win over the Grizzlies, a few fans grew frustrated after Horford missed his first three on the night. A smattering of boos could be heard.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Horford, who’s as even-keeled and reserved as they come, had an interesting celebration after knocking home his first trey of the game.
Later in the game, he did it again.
The Sixers had a brutal four-game road trip. Horford has struggled. Being the competitor that he is, he’s surely just as frustrated as the fan base. For a guy that doesn’t show a ton of it, it was an interesting display of emotion.
NBA
When Horford speaks to reporters, he’s always measured. When he’s asked about an aspect of the game that night, he often says that he needs to go back and watch film to be sure. When he’s asked to put things into context, he says that he’d have to think about it instead of just giving an off-the-cuff answer.
He had a similar response Friday about his new three-pointer “celebration.”
“I'm gonna hold that stuff to myself, but eventually I'll talk about it. ... I'll talk about it eventually. I don't have a celebration really — a three-point celebration — so that could be the start of something.”
The Sixers’ win over Memphis Friday may be one of their better victories of the season given what’s occurred recently. The Grizzlies came to the Wells Fargo Center red hot. They’re a young, talented and hungry basketball team — and the Sixers whooped them.
Even after a strong, lopsided win, Horford was as measured as always.
“I just think we just need to continue to work and understand that we've got a lot of work ahead of us,” Horford said. “I know that we're talented and that we're good, but that's just not good enough. So we need to continue to work and figure things out with this new group that we have.”
Sixers fans will gladly shush if Horford continues to make more shots and the Sixers have more wins like Friday's.
Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.