Kyle Korver praises "cornerstone" Al Horford

Kyle Korver has described Al Horford as the "cornerstone" of the Atlanta Hawks, following their victory in game five of their Eastern Conference semi-final series against the Washington Wizards.

The center scored the winning basket in the 82-81 win, which leaves the conference's top seeds just one victory off a spot in the conference finals.

The small forward told ESPN: "Al has been the cornerstone for us, for the Hawks, for a bunch of years. It wasn't just that play, though. Al played an amazing game.

"He had huge blocked shots. He had that big corner three. His ability to step out and be a threat with that 15- to 17-footer, he's one of the best in the NBA, maybe in the history of the NBA doing that. He's such a threat.

"He's shown time and time again that he comes up big in clutch situations, on different levels, not just NBA, but in college he won those championships [at Florida]. He's a great all-around player."

The teams meet again on Friday.