With the Atlanta Hawks flying towards the finish as the NBA Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, former Florida Gator and current Hawks center Al Horford is soaring – and not just on the court.
Horford’s wife, former Miss Universe Amelia Vega, gave birth to the couple’s first child on Feb. 23, a boy named Ean Horford-Vega. While Horford must wish he could spend more time with his son and wife, the Hawks are currently the class of the NBA heading into tonight’s matchup with Golden State.
Atlanta is the first team to clinch a playoff spot in the notoriously inferior East, and the team leads the second-place Cleveland Cavaliers by 11 games. The Warriors are half a game ahead of the Hawks for the best record in the NBA heading into the matchup, and Atlanta has a chance to take the best record and clinch home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Out west, the Warriors have been rolling, but at the expense of David Lee.
A perennial starter for the team in previous seasons, Lee made just his first start of the season on Friday in an upset loss to the Denver Nuggets.
As the postseason approaches in April, playoff-bound teams plan on resting their starters on certain nights to get the team healthy. Golden State coach Steve Kerr chose to rest starting center Andrew Bogut to make room for Lee, and Lee responded with 13 points while grabbing four rebounds in 31 minutes. A two-time NBA All-Star, Lee’s play has declined this year due to early-season injuries, resulting in Kerr benching him completely for three of the team’s last seven games despite being healthy.
Like Kerr and the Warriors, the Chicago Bulls are trying to rest some of their starters as the team pushes towards the postseason.
One of those to feel the effects of the minutes limit is former Gator Joakim Noah.
Bulls management imposed a 32-minute limit for games on Noah to limit soreness as the center continues to recover from knee surgery he underwent in May, and Noah has said he continues to battle knee soreness regularly.
If the Bulls hope to compete with Horford and the East’s elite they’ll need Noah to be fully healthy and firmly entrenched in the middle.
While Noah looks to stay healthy, Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal is getting healthy at the right time.
Despite missing time with a left wrist fracture early in the season and a right leg injury recently, Beal has rehabbed and worked his way back to being a force for the fifth-place Wizards.
The St. Louis, Missouri, native had arguably his most complete game of the season on Monday night against the Portland Trailblazers, scoring a team-high 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting with seven assists in the win. The Wizards still have a chance at clinching home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs as the team sits just a game out of third place.
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
Atlanta Hawks' Al Horford dunks against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half the Hawks' 91-86 win over the Lakers on Sunday in Los Angeles.
