Atlanta's Horford grabs 22 boards in win over Miami

Basketball Betting Lines

02/27/2009 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Al Horford pulled down a career-high 22 rebounds to go with 21 points to power Atlanta to a hard-fought 91-83 victory over Southeast Division rival Miami.

Joe Johnson erupted for 24 points and five assists, while Josh Smith and Marvin Williams posted 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Hawks, who were coming off a 2-4 road trip.

"It was a big game for us," Horford said. "I just wanted to come out and be aggressive. That's the way that I tried to play throughout the night."

Smith (personal) and point guard Mike Bibby (flu) both missed Atlanta's previous outing. Bibby played just 19 minutes Friday, going 0-for-7 from the floor with two assists.

Dwyane Wade finished with 21 points and 10 assists, while Michael Beasley chipped in 23 points for Miami, which failed to win back-to-back games in February, alternating wins and losses in its last nine outings.

Udonis Haslem logged 10 points and 11 rebounds in defeat.

After an eyesore of a first half for both clubs, the Hawks came out of the break and hit four of their first six shots. Horford's dunk gave Atlanta a 45-35 lead and the hosts held a 64-53 edge after three quarters.

Smith's tip-in and uncontested layup midway through the fourth made it a 77-65 game. Miami scored seven of the next nine points to inch closer, and after exchanging a pair of free throws, Johnson's baseline jumper as the shot clock expired gave Atlanta an 83-74 lead with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.

Beasley and Wade buckets -- the latter coming as a result of Horford's goaltending violation with 1:36 to go -- made it a two-possession game, 83-78.

Atlanta's Flip Murray then made 1-of-2 from the foul line and Beasley got Miami within 84-80 with a nice drive and finish in the lane.

Johnson was bailed out on the next possession as he was off-balanced in the lane and Wade was whistled for a personal foul. The All-Star guard made two freebies and Miami's Mario Chalmers missed a wide open three-point attempt in the corner with under a minute to play to essentially seal the game.

Neither offense was productive in the first quarter, which ended with the Hawks holding an underwhelming 19-15 edge. Things got uglier in the second, and Atlanta limped to a 36-32 halftime margin.

"It took us a long while to get to the tempo of the game," Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Defensively we did not play with a real sense of urgency until the fourth quarter."

Game Notes

Atlanta leads the season series, 2-1...Murray ended with 12 points in the win...Jermaine O'Neal made just three of his 10 shots, logging eight points and 11 rebounds for Miami, which received 11 points from Daequan Cook.

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