Horford game-winner saves Hawks to take 3-2 series lead over Wizards
ATLANTA -- Al Horford, even-keeled in an ocean of noise, followed the biggest moment of his eight-year professional career with a wave and a kiss. Both were directed 12 rows up behind the opposing basket, to his family standing in a section surrounded by red shirts and waving towels.
Three minutes after saving his team from facing elimination in a hostile environment, Horford was, in both demeanor and circumstance, the eye of the storm.
Hawks teammates found it appropriate that Horford, of all players, was the one to save this historic season from desperation mode by ripping down an improbable offensive rebound and notching the game-winning putback with one second remaining in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday night, handing the Hawks the 82-81 comeback win and all-too-important 3-2 series lead over the Washington Wizards. That dramatic sequence erased yet another Paul Pierce game-winner and, potentially, a franchise's 53 years of postseason ineptitude.
"I've seen (Horford) make big plays," Hawks point guard Jeff Teague said, "but that's probably the biggest play I've seen him make, man."
Atlanta flirted with gut-wrenching deja vu. Following the Game 2 script, a furious 18-8 fourth-quarter rally was once again nullified by Pierce's dagger. This time it was a 3-pointer in the corner. When it went down, handing the Wizards a one-point lead, the veteran star turned to the Hawks bench and delivered another classic: "Series."
Only this time he left 8.3 seconds on the clock, and the Hawks weren't dead.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer drew up a play during the subsequent timeout to get reserve point guard Dennis Schroder going to the basket with his usual head of steam, creating an opportunity at the rim for a layup or subsequent offensive rebound. It worked, to an extent. Schroder reached the rim, but missed the contested layup. Horford was nowhere near the play. The big man was outside the paint when Schroder's shot left his hands. But as Washington focused its primary efforts on boxing out teammate Paul Millsap, Horford swooped in.
"I wasn't supposed to be involved in the play at all. I was supposed to just set a screen for Kyle (Korver), which I did, and we put our trust in Dennis. He had a great drive," said Horford, who became the first-ever Hawks player to officially log at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks in a playoff game. "Then, when I just saw the ball go up, I just ran in there. It was just a hustle play, just making a winning play."
THE GAME WINNER! https://t.co/0t9mKyhcpW
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) May 14, 2015
Such plays have become common in this back-and-forth series.
For two franchises well-versed postseason misery, it's provided an emotional roller-coaster as the backdrop for the East's undercard. The Pierce and Horford shots are as much about two franchises trading familiar doses of disappointment as they are two teams alternating late-game haymakers. The Hawks are searching for their first trip to the conference finals since moving to Atlanta in 1968. An identical drought dates back to 1979 for Washington. Each game-winner shifts the decades-old weight of expectations.
That's why, for Atlanta, it was appropriate for Horford to do the honors.
The 6-foot-11 center is this team's foundation. His season-ending injury last season left Atlanta as an 8-seed in Budenholzer's first year. He's missed the majority of two seasons due to injury. He endured a career's worth of early playoff exits. Everything that has transpired over the past few years to bring the Hawks to the brink of franchise history -- all the trades and signings and philosophical coaching shifts -- was built around Horford, the longest-tenured holdover from what seems like another era entirely.
For a player that won two national championships at Florida while in college, Wednesday night provided his professional high-water mark. It was a signature game -- perhaps the signature game to date -- for one of the league's best all-around players at the height of his powers.
"He's a stabilizing force. That's just who his person is. It's not just how he plays, that's who he is," Hawks guard Kyle Korver said. "He's always calm and collected and thoughtful. He can get intense, obviously, on the basketball court, but he is a steadying force. ... He's been like the cornerstone for us and for the Hawks for a bunch of years.
"It wasn't just that play, though. Al played an amazing game. He had huge blocked shots. He had that big corner 3. His ability to step out and be a threat with that 15-, 17-foot shot, he's one of the best in the NBA, maybe one of the best in the history of the NBA in doing that. He's such a threat. He's shown (that) time and time again in clutch situations, on different levels. Not just in the NBA but in college, winning those championships. He's a great all-around player."
Horford's contributions were necessary in Game 5, if only because the Hawks were downright awful on offense for the first 42 minutes of the night. They finished with 25 turnovers and missed all but five of their 22 3-point attempts. Close-range shots didn't come much easier.
With All-Star point guard John Wall reinserted into the Wizards lineup and playing at a high level (15 points, seven assists) despite five non-displaced fractures in his left hand and wrist, Washington was the better team for most of the night. The Hawks' offense would have been completely lost if not for that 18-8 closing run. They had to rely on a swarming, active defense -- recording a franchise playoff record 13 blocks and postseason-high 11 steals -- to give themselves even a puncher's chance. It was the sloppiest of wins.
The Hawks' locker-room cheers could still be heard echoing through the Philips Arena corridors, though. These are the types of victories that have eluded this franchise in the past. Budenholzer's film session will be unforgiving, but Horford & Co. spent no time discussing point differential in the aftermath. They are 48 minutes shy of history.
"It means a lot," Horford said of being the one to hit the pivotal game-winner, "but more importantly we won. We all get to celebrate, and it's about our team. I was just in that position and I made a play."
Horford is a three-time All-Star that has made plays his entire career. This is nothing new. But in the biggest moment, and under the brightest lights, of his pro career, Al Horford was both a calming presence and a source of bedlam.
His signature is, fittingly, now written in permanent marker on this playoff run and the greatest season in team history.
