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The Boston Celtics got back into the win column thanks to their 108-97 win over the upstart Philadelphia 76ers. The Celtics were led once again by another stellar performance from superstar point guard Kyrie Irving, who finished with 36 points on an efficient 12-of-21 shooting.
Irving and head coach Brad Stevens have largely received most of the credit for Boston's success thus far. However, Sixers shooting guard J.J. Reddick feels the efforts of veteran center Al Horford have gone unnoticed, according to Jay King of masslive.com:
“Kyrie is obviously amazing,” Redick said. “But Horford probably doesn't get enough credit for how good he is offensively. One of the reasons is because of the way he pops and sort of the problems that presents; whether that's shooting 3s, or attacking closeouts, or catching and running into another pick-and-roll. … As good as Kyrie is offensively, it's almost like Horford is the hub of everything they do — and because he's so versatile, it creates all sort of issues.
Horford took advantage of the Sixers without budding superstar Joel Embiid and finished with 21 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Aside from Friday night, Horford has been as consistent and versatile a big man as there is in this league ever since he came over from the Atlanta Hawks.
The former Florida Gator is averaging 13.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game this year. That said, his contributions to the success of this young Celtics team has largely flown under the radar by seemingly everyone but teammates and opponents alike.
