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When the Celtics re-acquired Al Horford two summers in the past, the panorama of the Japanese Convention was clear: Boston must get by Giannis Antetokounmpo and/or Joel Embiid to win a championship.
To date, the cagey veteran has gotten the perfect of each of them.
On this yr’s marquee matchup with the MVP, Horford didn’t have that signature second like when Antetokounmpo dunked and flexed on the 36-year-old in Recreation 4 final yr solely to get the favor returned with a facial of his own as part of a 30-point fountain of youth.
No, in opposition to Joel Embiid, the feat was extra Sisyphean, a grueling game-to-game activity of slowing down top-of-the-line large males within the sport. Recreation 7 on Sunday afternoon belonged to Jayson Tatum and his 51 factors that buried the 76ers under a 112-88 blowout, but when there a defensive spotlight reel for the clincher, it belonged to Horford.
Horford had missed all 9 of his three-pointers in Video games 5 and 6, however he hit two in Recreation 7 that we’re a lot wanted momentum shifters: a 3 to stem the tide on the finish of the primary quarter when the Sixers had been surging and one other later within the second that gave Boston’s it’s first lead 38-37 after falling behind within the first half. Nevertheless, it was his defensive work after halftime that actually assist put Boston excessive.
In our CelticsBlog Slack channel, I requested the opposite writers, “are you able to be scorching on protection?” It positive felt prefer it. Whereas Tatum torched Philly’s protection from past the arc, Horford’s hardhat work within the trenches in opposition to Embiid was equally demoralizing.
Per NBC Boston’s Chris Forsberg, over the ultimate six quarters of the second spherical sequence, Horford was the first defender on Embiid for over half of Philadelphia’s possessions. He held him to 38.8% capturing (31-of-80) with eight blocked pictures. In Recreation 7, Embiid was simply 5-of-18 from the ground with simply six free throw makes an attempt. By the tip of the sequence, it appeared like Horford had course of The Course of.
“Simply making an attempt to make the whole lot as tough as I might. He’s the MVP of the league for a purpose with how a lot strain he can put in your protection with so many issues that he can do,” Horford stated after blocking Embiid thrice.
“I used to be simply on the market making an attempt to struggle for my life and making an attempt to make an impression and I understood on this sequence, it wasn’t going to be a lot my offense. It was extra defensively that I needed to take that problem and defend him for us to have an opportunity.”
He credited his teammates and the teaching workers for mixing up their coverages and serving to when he wanted assist, however in the end, Horford deserves all of the credit score for (once more) shutting down a Most Useful Participant when it mattered most.
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