Tag / al horford

James Johnson, Brooklyn Nets
by Alex Fischbein

Last night in the Atlantic (12/3/21)

It was a bit of a busy night for the Atlantic and they come out of it with a 2-1 record. Philly and Brooklyn both with solid wins and Boston gave it a valiant effort at least.

Standings:
Brooklyn Nets 16-6
Philadelphia 76ers 12-11
Boston Celtics 12-11
New York Knicks 11-11
Toronto Raptors 10-13

Let’s talk about last night!

James Johnson

Let’s highlight an unsung hero type of guy for Brooklyn. James Johnson has stepped up and played his role in a big way for this Nets team. He gets the nitty-gritty points off of rebounds, he cuts at the right times, he fills the lane at the correct areas, and he’s just playing some fundamentally sound basketball. When you need some tough defense, rebounds, and a timely bucket, Johnson has been that guy. Especially with all of the injuries and rest days that the others have needed, it’s nice to have someone like Johnson coming in to fill that spot. He ended the game against Minnesota with 11p & 6r.

Joel Embiid

You already know we had to highlight Joel Embiid again after last night’s game. Going down to Atlanta without their second-best scorer and Embiid on a bit of a cold streak, he stepped it up and pulled this team to a win. Clint Capela looked straight up hopeless going against Embiid all night. It was one of those old-fashioned BBQ chicken type of nights for Joel Embiid! Even all of the guys around Embiid except for Shake Milton had some great shooting nights as everyone had to be concerned with helping Capela on defense. Embiid finished with 28p, 12r, 4a & 2b on the way to a much-needed win.

Al Horford

This was one of the best offensive games that the Boston Celtics cashed in so far this season. It’s just a shame that the defensive effort wasn’t the same and Utah just had an even better offensive game than they did. They shot a blistering 51% from the field, but Utah one-upped them with 55%! Al Horford also was quite close to a triple-double in this contest. Big Al really had to step up with Robert Williams only playing 15 minutes. So what he did was drop 21p, 6r, & 9a. In the end, however, Utah just kept on outdoing any kind of firepower they brought.

Al Horford, Boston Celtics
by Alex Fischbein

Last night in the Atlantic (11/15/21)

Boston and New York grab themselves a win while Toronto continues their slide. Which makes it weirder that Toronto was also the one with the best offense in their respective games.

Standings:
Brooklyn Nets 10-4
Philadelphia 76ers 8-6
New York Knicks 8-6
Boston Celtics 7-7
Toronto Raptors 7-8

So let’s talk about last night!

Al Horford

Al Horford is the one getting highlighted right now, instead of Jayson Tatum, because he made the same amount shots that Tatum did in 10 fewer attempts. He also hit one more three but didn’t get the free throws to bolster his point total. Horford has been playing some very meaningful minutes lately as the Celtics have needed him dearly in every win of theirs. He’s provided the inside presence when Robert Williams isn’t on the floor and he’s also given them some floor spacing and defensive leadership. While it was a great move to bring him back this season, they’re still going to need a bit more than just Horford. He ended up with 17p, 9r, 3a, & 2b.

OG Anunoby

OG Anunoby cashed in another great offensive night for the Toronto Raptors. 29 points on 9-19 from the floor and 6-10 from three is not too shabby of a performance. Everyone in the starting five actually shot 42% or higher, but the bench minutes were the biggest minus in this game. That’s where Portland started pulling away, any time each time had their bench players in. Anunoby, on the other hand, added 6r, 2a, 3s to his 29 and did a great job keeping the Raptors in this game.

Derrick Rose

This New York Knicks game was quite ugly. Which has been the case the last handful of games if we’re being honest. Derrick Rose put together a nice stat line off the bench with 14p, 5r, & 7a. The main reason I decided to highlight him over the leading scorer, Kemba Walker, is because he also took the team on their best scoring runs. Rose was +21 compared to Walker’s -15 because he was affecting the game in more ways than just straight scoring. There have been legitimate arguments for Derrick Rose being moved to starting point guard, but it looks like there are more issues than just that in the month of November.

Ben Simmons

Ben Simmons is receiving fines yet again. This time for missing the team’s west coast road trip. If you listen to the latest episode of our podcast, we talked a bit about this saga and the role Rich Paul is playing in the whole thing. I wish both sides would just set the record straight without having to talk through agents, media, and other talking heads. Once this is resolved, both parties can finally breathe a sigh of relief and just move on with life.

OG Anunoby, Toronto Raptors
by Alex Fischbein

Last night in the Atlantic! (11/1/21)

Honestly, all three Atlantic games ended with quite surprising results! Didn’t really see the Raptors pulling out a tough win over the Knicks and swore the Sixers had no chance without Joel Embiid nor Tobias Harris. Let’s talk about last night!

Standings:
New York Knicks 5-2
Philadelphia 76ers 5-2
Toronto Raptors 5-3
Brooklyn Nets 4-3
Boston Celtics 2-5

OG Anunoby

OG Anunoby cashed in a big-time night! In a game where the Raptors especially weren’t supposed to win without Scottie Barnes over a good New York Knicks team, Anunoby took control. This is the exact kind of performance that the Raptors were hoping to see more of and what will move him up the MIP ladder. The fact he was able to score like he did, in all of the various ways that he did, against a defense like the Knicks bodes well for the Raptors future. His slow start is starting to turn into a scorching hot streak that could even last a whole season if he starts to turn into what we predicted him to be this season.

Georges Niang

Georges Niang was that guy last night! He was the one to step up outside of the normal starters for the Sixers. His offensive production and timely buckets were needed ten-fold as the team didn’t even have Joel Embiid nor Tobias Harris for a tough matchup against the Blazers. As the fans chanted for Lillard, who shot 7-20, Niang was going to work to the tune of 21p, 5r, 5a on 43.8% from the field. The funny thing is that he does look slow a lot of the time, but his anticipation and his shooting prowess allow him to counterbalance that a lot of the time.

Al Horford

Boston drops yet another game, but Al Horford definitely gave it his all to keep the lead they built up until the end of the third quarter. Once it hit the final quarter, all bets were off as Chicago outscored Boston 39-11. Horford, however, was trying to be the steadying force outside of Brown/Tatum as he put up 20p, 10, 3a. It got so bad with this game that even Marcus Smart called out Tatum and Brown for not involving the rest of the team on offense enough. Usually, that’s the kind of thing a team hopes that Horford would do since he’s supposed to be the veteran leader, but I guess that’s Marcus Smart’s thing instead.