I have to give Al Horford credit. He tried to play it cool.
“It was just to win,” he said. “It felt really good for us to get this win tonight. It was a grind. There’s no question, it’s already been kind of like a full season but my whole mindset is just win this game. It doesn’t matter at what cost. We have to come out and win the game.”
That’s nice, but too bad Ime Udoka already ratted you out before you sat down, Al.
“He was excited as we all were - myself, him and Josh (Richardson) spent that year together in Philly. We know what the rivalry means when you’re part of it between the two teams,” the coach said after the game. “Al probably did have some excitement there. You could see it there when Rob got the shot blocked, Al was screaming pretty loud. In general, it was a good overall win. Defensively we were pretty solid - probably means more to myself, Al and Josh because we’ve been there.”
Besides it being the first admission by Udoka that he feels emotions, it was also clearly something that meant more to Horford.
So Al, let’s ask the question again.
"No question, yeah, yeah, yeah, I wouldn't say another game,” he admitted the second time around. “I mean, it was definitely a good win. Good feeling. Just with everything. This was a game that was important. It's early December, obviously, it was a good win and I'm very happy about it."
We all remember Horford’s business decision to leave the Celtics a couple of seasons ago. The Sixers, sick of running up against the Celtics brick wall that included Horford’s ability to defend Joel Embiid, threw a Godfather offer at Horford. He accepted, and he was part of the exodus in the wake of the Kyrie Irving era.
It didn’t work. The once-celebrated signing fizzled for various reasons. Horford and Embiid never meshed, and, as Udoka has hinted at countless times, the Sixers never quite took advantage of Horford’s unique skill set. Things turned ugly as the Sixers suffered through more disappointment, and Horford was one of the scapegoats.
"Yeah, no question. No question about it,” he said, acknowledging that his reputation had taken a massive hit in the process. “Obviously, it's everything on me. It was my decision, my decision to leave. Do all these things. It was like, 'How are you going to respond after you've been faced with adversity?'
In retrospect, the trade to the Thunder worked out in his favor for a couple of reasons. They were following the Philly process blueprint and clearly trying to lose games, so when Horford was fueling too many wins, he got a paid vacation.
Then, when the Celtics needed to move Kemba Walker’s contract, the Thunder were there to help facilitate the move. In the end, things worked out well for Horford. The problem or him was, he didn’t see this coming at first.
“It was a very low point for me at the beginning when it all went down,” he said. “ Looking at having to go to Oklahoma City, what now with me, my 14th year. I really looked at it at that point as this is an opportunity for me to get better, to prove myself and to prove to people what I can do. That year was a difficult year for me in Philly, there's no question about it.”
The time he did spend on the floor helped rehab his image while the time off it helped rehab everything else. Together, it created an opportunity to correct a decision that, given hindsight, he might reconsider.
“Just getting everything together and put me in a position to be able to be here again,” he said. “Once this opportunity came, I was very grateful. But yeah, there's no question about it. There's also a satisfaction of being back here and playing at a high level."
Horford opened the season on a torrid blocked shots pace and then tailed off a bit. He went from leading the league down to 10th (right behind Robert Williams) but the five he had against his former team adds to his satisfaction.
He was the catalyst early in the game and got Boston off to a good start. Late in the game, when it came to shutting the Sixers down, it was Horford on the floor doing a bit of everything again. On the final possession, forced to switch onto a wing player out of necessity, Horford held his own and forced a late pass. And when Williams got a piece of the final shot, Horford let out a little extra emotion having proved a point to the team that probably could have used him in a game like this.
“Being down, being talked down about it and all these things. It's the reality. You have to (get) results. You have to do different things and I didn't do that,” Horford said. “Yeah, I'm sure I was written off. I'm just glad I got another opportunity in a place where I want to be.”