The Hawks saved their best for last.
They needed it because it came after a brutal start to the fourth quarter.
Al Horford scored on a put-back with 1.9 seconds left to give the Hawks a dramatic 82-81 win over the Wizards in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Wednesday night at Philips Arena. For the first time, the Hawks lead the series. They will take a 3-2 lead into Game 6 on Friday in Washington with the odds on their side. The winner of Game 5 in a tied series wins more than 80 percent of playoff series.
The Hawks are one win from their first trip to the Eastern Conference finals.
“Al Horford made a play at the end of the game,” coach Mike Budenholzer said. “It was a winning play. We talk about those. He went and got it and found a way to put it back in.”
Dennis Schroder had a layup blocked by John Wall on the final possession. However, Horford grabbed the rebound from Nene and scored the game-winner.
Horford finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks. Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague, who was not on the floor for the final minutes, added 14 each.
The Wizards opened a 71-63 fourth quarter lead as the Hawks started the period 0-for-8 with four turnovers. Their first point of the period was a Millsap free throw with 6:32 left. Horford added two free throws after a Bradley Beal basket.
Then it happened.
Kyle Korver made his first basket of the game, a 3-pointer, with 4:47 left for the team’s first field goal. Horford followed 36 seconds later with a 3-pointer, and the Hawks pulled within one point, 73-72. Three more baskets, one by Horford and two from Schroder, gave the Hawks held a 78-73 lead on the 14-0 run.
Paul Pierce made a 3-pointer to end the run and make the score 78-76 with less than two minutes remaining. When Marcin Gortat scored with 51.3 seconds left, the score was tied.
Horford missed a mid-range jumper, the kind he made all night, to give the Wizards the ball. Pierce lost the ball on the ensuing possession, to Korver, who started a fast break between Horford and DeMarre Carroll, who finished with a layup for an 80-78 lead with 14.9 seconds left.
It was short-lived as Pierce made a corner 3-pointer with 8.3 seconds left to set up the final dramatics.
“I think we did a good job of just saying next play,” Korver said. “Obviously, that one (by Pierce) hurt. That was a tough one. We called timeout right away. We drew up a play. We believe in what we run.”
Schroder was on the floor for the game-winning possession with Teague on the sideline — by choice.
“They were playing well,” Teague said. “I’m all about the win. I’m not about no individual pride. It was about the win. They were playing well. … The whole group out there was in a groove. When you’ve got something clicking like that, playing well, we were down by nine, you don’t mess that up.”
Teague was at the scorer’s table to re-enter the game. When Schroder scored on an 18-foot pull-up, he saw Teague wave off the substitution.
“I saw it,” Schroder said. “When I hit the jumper from the free-throw line, he was still at the table. He told coach, ‘Let him in, let him in.’ That is great. I brought out all my confidence because the starting point guard didn’t want to come in because I played great. I really appreciate it.
Wall returned after missing three games with five non-displaced fractures of the left hand and wrist for the Wizards. He was stellar. He finished with 15 points and seven assists. Bradley Beal again led the Wizards with 23 points.
The Wizards took a 47-41 lead into intermission by closing the second quarter on a 19-6 run. The Hawks were 3-of-8 with three turnovers during the Wizards’ run. The Hawks led by as many as eight points before Horford made a jumper to end the period. Only minutes earlier, the Hawks led by eight points, 31-23, after Mike Muscala scored the team’s first eight points of the quarter.
The Hawks finished the first half shooting 18-of-45 (40.0 percent), including 2-of-11 from 3-point range. They had 11 turnovers, seven of which came in the first quarter.
It got worse in the third quarter.
The Hawks started the second half with four consecutive turnovers, and the Wizards built a 10-point lead. Then Horford and Teague took control.
Horford had eight points and Teague had seven in the charge, which included a 10-0 run as the Hawks re-took the lead. They had a 63-62 edge headed into the final quarter.
Now, the top-seeded Hawks are on the brink of another series victory.
“I think we did a good job of just saying next play,” Korver said. “Obviously, that one (by Pierce) hurt. That was a tough one. We called timeout right away. We drew up a play. We believe in what we run.”
