Smooth Performance of the Night: Al Horford is everywhere in huge Hawks victory

There are different types of smooth. There's suave, flirty, Tyrese smooth. There's dashing, daring, The Rock smooth. And there's "I'm smooth because it's the most aerodynamic path," menacing, Vin Diesel smooth.

Al Horford was a bit of each on Wednesday in leading the Atlanta Hawks to a crucial Game 5 victory over the Washington Wizards. Call his performance the Jason Statham.

Horford was everywhere for the Hawks, leading the team at both ends of the floor and likely convincing any remaining doubters, were there any, that he's entirely deserving of the maximum contract he'll surely command this offseason. It was a masterful two-way outing and it has the Hawks on the verge of the Eastern Conference finals.

The final stat line was impressive enough - 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting, 11 rebounds, two assists and five blocked shots - but it actually does his impact a disservice.

Horford scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds in the fourth quarter alone. He hit a clutch triple - the third of his playoff career in 59 games - with 4:24 to play and crashed the glass on the game's final possession, securing an offensive rebound and hitting the game-winner to erase a Paul Pierce would-be game-winning triple.

He assisted on DeMarre Carroll's then go-ahead basket with 14 seconds to play, too, and blocked a key John Wall attempt with 3:02 to play in the fourth.

None of this should be all that surprising. Horford averaged 15.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.3 blocks while shooting 53.8 percent in the regular season, and he's nudged those numbers to 16 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.7 blocks, and his shooting has remained strong at 48.2 percent.

The nature of the Hawks' system is that no one player ever really stands out. Nobody scored more than 30 points all season long and nobody has scored more than 26 in the playoffs. But if someone's looking for their core piece, their key player or the one person they cannot afford to lose in what could be a tumultuous offseason, it's Horford, one of the league's best centers - even if he's more of a natural power forward - and one of the most under-appreciated players.