2015 NBA Playoffs: Atlanta Hawks pull of a thrilling win over Washington Wizards
The Atlanta Hawks beat the Washington Wizards 82-81 in a thrilling fixture in the NBA Playoffs to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Al Horford scored the point that clinched the win for his side, with just 1.9 seconds remaining on the clock that helped them take a decisive lead in the series.
Apart from scoring the winner, The 28-year-old center scored 23 points and accounted for 11 rebounds and 5 blocks in total during the course of the game.
Horford had never tried a potential game-tying shot in the last 10 seconds of a playoff game and admitted at the end that he was never meant to be there at that point in time and instinctively started to run as soon as he saw the ball go up.
"I wasn't supposed to be involved in the play at all. When I saw the ball go up, I just ran in there,” he said.
No one has a better record than Horford when it comes to the clutch time goal percentage over the last 5 postseasons among the players with a minimum of 20 attempts.
For the Wizards, John Wall returned after missing three games due to a hand injury. At the paint, the 24-year-old went 4-of-4 while the team, in general, went 4-of-5 in tha area from Wall’s passes in the first half. In the next half through, Wall went just 1-of-2 while the team went 2-of-5.