Al Horford Says Adversity Will 'Help' 76ers amid 4-Game Losing Streak

At least one member of the Philadelphia 76ers is remaining positive amid a four-game losing streak. 

“Any time you have adversity, that forces the group to come together,” forward Al Horford told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I believe that this will help our group. Right now, we are figuring it out, but I was encouraged by our fight tonight and how we competed.”

The Sixers fell in Milwaukee on Thursday night 112-101 in a matchup of two title contenders. 

 Philadelphia has now fallen to three of the Eastern Conference's top teams in a row with the Bucks, Heat and Celtics outscoring them by a combined 73 points. 

The biggest issue during that stretch has been center Joel Embiid, who has struggled to fit back into the offense since returning from a weeks-long hand injury. Embiid is minus-8.3 on the floor in four games while averaging 21.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. Before his wrist surgery, he was averaging 23.4 points, 12.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists as a plus-4.3 player on the court. 

The additions of Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III at the trade deadline should hopefully provide some more outside shooting and space the floor for Embiid, who shot 6-of-26 Thursday.

“I shoot the ball the way I do,” Embiid told Pompey. “Tonight, I missed a lot of wide-open looks. So we came into the game with a game-plan of shooting lot of threes, especially with the way the guard us, the way they defend us. You got to do it, and I missed a lot of wide-open ones. So it’s just on to the next one. Some nights you make some. Some nights you don’t.”

Perhaps it's a good thing for the Sixers the All-Star break is only three games away. Even more fortunate for Philadelphia, those three games all come at home with Memphis, Chicago and the Los Angeles Clippers all slated to visit Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers are 22-2 at home as opposed to 9-19 on the road.