(The Sports Xchange) – Atlanta guard Jeff Teague scored 26 points as the Hawks beat the Washington Wizards 106-101 to square their Eastern Conference semi-final playoff series at 2-2 on Monday.
Paul Millsap scored 19 points and Al Horford had 18 and 10 rebounds for Atlanta, who are top seeds in the East.
Playing their third straight game without injured All Star John Wall, the Wizards trailed by nine with 3:40 remaining and despite getting as close as 104-101 in the final seconds they were unable to grab another last-gasp victory like they did in Game Three. Paul Pierce, who hit a buzzer-beating winner on Saturday, missed a wide-open three-pointer with 6.9 seconds remaining. Atlanta’s Millsap sank two free throws for the final points with less than a second left to ice the win.
The Hawks led 65-55 at halftime and withstood several rallies by the fifth-seeded Wizards, who got 34 points from guard Bradley Beal. Pierce scored 22 and had made five of six three-pointers before his final miss. Teague buried a three-pointer with 1:12 remaining to put the Hawks up 104-97 after the Wizards scored five straight points to pull within three.
Dennis Schroder scored 14 points for the Hawks as Atlanta’s bench outscored Washington’s 32-17.
