Hawks rebound at home

Al Horford is an unabashed fan of March Madness and has been since he led Florida to back-to-back NCAA Tournament titles.

So you’ll have to excuse him for being a couple of days early with the March Madness-worthy effort he gave in the Hawks’ crucial 91-83 victory over Miami on Friday night at Philips Arena.

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Hawks forward Josh Smith drives against Heat forward Michael Beasley in the first quarter.

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But with the Hawks in dire need of a win and facing the team close behind in the Eastern Conference playoff chase, Horford turned his game up a few notches.

The second-year center recorded the NBA’s 13th 20-20 game of the season, finishing his night with 21 points and a career-high 22 rebounds in a must-win game for the Hawks, who improved to 33-25 and stretched their lead over the Heat for the fourth spot in the standings to 2 1/2 games.

“It was just the occasion,” Horford said. “Coach told us before the game to approach it as a playoff game and Miami is right behind us, so we had to make a statement. And I just came out real focused.”

His focus helped the Hawks snap a three-game losing streak and jump-started his teammates, who got off to a slow start in their first game at home in two weeks.

Horford made sure the Hawks maintained control from start to finish by being as aggressive as he has been all season on offense and cleaning up any shot that came off the rim on both offense and defense.

“It was awesome,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said of Horford’s performance. “I’m going to go in there and tell him don’t tease me like that. He had an All-Star game tonight. Any time you go out there and have a 20-point, 20-rebound night in our league that’s huge.

“From the Denver game we went to him more and utilized him a little bit more. And coming down the stretch that’s something I think we’re going to have to continue to do.”

Horford acknowledged that he’d been waiting for a game like this to come along. He had 18 points and 18 rebounds in a win over Sacramento last week, the Hawks’ only victory on a brutal, five-game Western Conference road swing they ended with a 1-4 mark.

That he had it against a Miami team that recently traded for Jermaine O’Neal, a team that’s locked into a late-season dogfight with the Hawks for a playoff positioning, only made it that much sweeter.

“Tonight was one of those nights where the ball was just coming to [me],” Horford said. “Coach was on us about having a playoff mentality, and that’s the way we have to play the rest of the season.”

Horford’s big night overshadowed a yeoman’s effort off the bench from Flip Murray.

Murray chipped in with 12 off the bench, playing all but five minutes of the second half in place of Hawks starting point guard Mike Bibby.

Bibby started the game, but was clearly still feeling the effects of a flu bug that caused him to be sent home early from this week’s Western Conference road swing.

He played 19 scoreless minutes against the Heat after playing 15 scoreless in Monday’s loss in Utah.

“Flip was and continues to be huge for us,” Woodson said. “I wanted to see how much Bibby had, and for him to tell us if he couldn’t go, and Flip was able to step up for us.”

Joe Johnson led the way with 24 points for the Hawks. Josh Smith finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Marvin Williams also added 13 points for the Hawks, who did a masterful defensive job against Heat superstar Dwyane Wade (21 points on 9-for-17 shooting).

“I think Al set the tone for all of that,” Johnson said. “He set it early as far as attacking the basket on offense and playing great defense on Jermaine O’Neal, and that’s what we needed. We needed somebody to set the tone.”