The Philadelphia 76ers barely put up a fight against the Boston Celtics, and team chemistry appeared to be an issue for them in the series. Al Horford’s sister hinted during Game 4 on Sunday that she knows one way to solve that problem.
Horford was basically a non-factor in the four-game sweep. He did, however, have some good stretches of play on Sunday. The big man scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. During the game, Horford’s sister Anna tweeted that her brother plays “so much better” with Joel Embiid on the bench.
Al plays so much better when Embiid is sitting
— Anna Horford (@AnnaHorford) August 23, 2020
Anna also retweeted a bunch of tweets that said the 76ers’ offense is much more efficient when it runs through Al. She then followed up by calling Embiid “amazing” and said she didn’t mean for her tweet to be a knock on him.
& he’s never played with a center like Joel before.
— Anna Horford (@AnnaHorford) August 23, 2020
The Sixers clearly have some major issues to sort out on offense, which could lead to one or more significant roster moves. Horford moved into the starting lineup for Philly with Ben Simmons injured, and the results were not good. There has been talk that Embiid is not fully committed to the 76ers, and Tobias Harris admitted before the NBA restart that the team has battled chemistry issues.
Head coach Brett Brown also appears to be on his way out the door.
Horford just finished the first season of a four-year, $109 million contract with the Sixers. He has typically played best as a stretch five, but he has had to log more minutes at power forward while playing alongside Embiid. That arrangement has not worked well, and Anna’s comments make us wonder if what Horford recently said about his role in Philly holds true.
