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Horford strikes back as Hawks tie series against Bulls, Noah
Monday, May 9, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
Joakim Noah and the Bulls were on the brink of putting Noah's former teammate at UF, Al Horford, in a hole that might be too much for the Atlanta Hawks to dig out of.
Instead, Horford and the Hawks evened their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Bulls at two games apiece Sunday night with a 100-88 home win over Chicago.
Horford played an important role. After Noah got the best of him in Games 2 and 3, Horford responded with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in Game 4. Horford hit 9 of 11 shots.
Click here for a comprehensive breakdown of the individual battle between Horford and Noah via NBA.com's statscube function.
The series returns to Chicago for Game 5 on Tuesday night (TNT, 8 p.m.).
Also, here is a good story on the Noah-Horford matchup from Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. He talked to both players about facing each other for the first time in the NBA Playoffs.
Quotes of Note:
“We're out there boxing out, we're wrestling, we're tussling, that's the way it is. It's all good. We're out there trying to win." – Horford
“He always had that real professional approach, the way he went after the game. I always worked hard but I always had problems with other things, like going to sleep early, things like that." -- Noah
