Now Al Horford says he will be back for playoffs

Remember when earlier today we passed along the note that Hawks center Al Horford told Marc Spears of Yahoo that he was not going to play in the first round of the playoffs against the Celtics?

Well.... never mind.

Horford met with a doctor then contacted Spears again with a change of mind.

Al Horford changes mind telling Yahoo! he will return to action in limited fashion 4/26 vs DAL after doc meeting. The Hawks forward-center told Y! Sports in the morning he didn’t expect to return from the postseason due to pectoral injury suffered earlier this season. But doctor told him some pectoral weakness is normal and not to be fearful of it, which led Horford to changing his mind and becoming more confident for return. He will play about 15 minutes per game in 1st round.

If the Hawks are to have any chance against the Celtics, they are going to need Horford. The Hawks offense has struggled this season against the elite defenses — the Celtics are certainly that — and part of it is that Joe Johnson and Josh Smith can be enticed into isolations and bad shots. Horford cleans a lot of that up, seems to promote ball movement and just generally improves the offense.

Fifteen minutes a game (if they stick to that) may not be enough, but the Hawks need him to make this a serious series.