Home sweet home. Say what you want about the Hawks uneven-at-times performance this season, but they've really done a great job of winning the games they needed the most. Tonight's win over Miami is a perfect example - the Heat came into the game trailing the Hawks by only 1.5 games for the 4th spot in the East, and Atlanta was reeling a bit from losing 4 of 5 on the West Coast to start the post All-Star break portion of the schedule. A loss tonight and I think people would start to search for the location of the panic button if not go ahead and push it. Frankly, there was a lot at stake.

The Hawks set the tone early, jumping on the Heat from the beginning and never letting up. They started the 3rd quarter (so often a trouble spot this season) on a 9-3 run to build their lead out to 10, and even as Miami rallied they never did get within a single possession.

A lot of Hawks played well tonight, but obviously the play of Al Horford was the biggest story. "Boss", as Hawks PA announcer Ryan Cameron has named him, posted the first 20/20 line since Dikembe Mutombo back in January of 2001 and showed that he is finally healthy from the knee injury that cost him 12 games in January and early February. I mentioned this in Everything You Need To Know, but if he'd gotten just one more hoop in the final 24 minutes, he'd have had a double-double in each half!

Atlanta improves to 33-25 on the season, and pushes Miami back to 2.5 games behind them in the conference standings. No time to rest though, as Cleveland comes to town on Sunday night for a nationally televised clash. If the Hawks can play with the same hustle and determination as they showed tonight, I think they'll have a very good chance of getting a weekend sweep.