Beal, Wall carry Wizards to victory

WASHINGTON — In a rough-and-tumble, foul-filled game, Bradley Beal took over in the fourth quarter with 16 of his 31 points, including a late three- pointer, helping the Washington Wizards beat the Atlanta Hawks 109-101 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.

John Wall finished with 32 points and 9 assists, including the assist to Beal on his three-pointer with 38 seconds remaining that sealed the victory for the Wizards.

Washington, which trailed 78-74 entering the final quarter, won despite only a combined seven points from starting forwards Markieff Morris and Otto Porter Jr., who were both in foul trouble early.

The series shifts to Atlanta for Game 3 on Saturday.

Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Dennis Schroder scored 23 points. Dwight Howard had only seven rebounds, half his Game 1 total, and scored six points.

Millsap scored 14 points in the third quarter, including six during a 13-0 run that took the Hawks from a deficit to a 74-67 edge with a little more than 3½ minutes left in that period. But Beal and Wall were too much in the fourth, with some help from backup point guard Brandon Jennings, who accounted for eight consecutive Wizards points during one stretch — making three baskets and assisting on another.

After Washington won the series opener over the weekend, Millsap bemoaned aloud about how things went, saying: “The difference in the game is we were playing basketball and they were playing MMA.”

That became a talking point during the off days, and perhaps affected the way Game 2 was called. The officials seemed determined to use their whistles upon seeing anything resembling a foul. Whatever debate might be had about how justified all the calls were, the interruptions disrupted the flow of the game.

Washington led 51- 43 at halftime. There were 29 personal fouls called in the opening 24 minutes, 55 for the game.

There was plenty of complaining by the Wizards throughout, and when sixth man Kelly Oubre Jr. got his fourth and joined Morris and Porter on the sideline, the team was whistled for a delay-of-game foul, its second, resulting in a technical.

About 30 seconds later, Howard picked up his fourth foul, while teammate Kent Bazemore was at four entering the last quarter, too.

When another couple of calls went against Washington in the third quarter, many voices in the sellout crowd of 20,356 rose in unison for full-throated chants of derision

directed at the officials.

ATLANTA (101)

Prince 5-8 2-2 12, Millsap 6-14 14-15 27, Howard 3-5 0-0 6, Schroder 8-21 6-8 23, Hardaway Jr. 5-14 7-7 19, Bazemore 2-5 4-4 8, Sefolosha 0-1 0-2 0, Ilyasova 1-3 0-0 2, Muscala 1-6 0-0 2, Calderon 1-2 0-0 2, Dunleavy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-79 33-38 101.

WASHINGTON (109)

Porter 2-7 0-0 4, Morris 1-3 1-2 3, Gortat 7-10 0-0 14, Wall 9-20 12-15 32, Beal 12-27 3-6 31, Oubre 0-1 1-2 1, Smith 3-6 2-2 8, Jennings 4-5 2-2 10, Bogdanovic 1-7 3-4 6. Totals 39-86 24-33 109.

Atlanta ..................24 19 35 23 — 101 Washington ............23 28 23 35 — 109 3-Point Goals— Atlanta 4-20 (Hardaway Jr. 2-4, Millsap 1-3, Schroder 1-8, Ilyasova 0-1, Calderon 0-1, Bazemore 0-1, Prince 0-1, Muscala 0-1), Washington 7-22 (Beal 4-10, Wall 2-2, Bogdanovic 1-5, Jennings 0-1, Morris 0-1, Porter 0-3). Fouled Out— None.

Rebounds— Atlanta 41 (Millsap 10), Washington 43 (Gortat 10). Assists— Atlanta 17 (Schroder 6), Washington 22 (Wall 9). Total Fouls— Atlanta 26, Washington 29. Technicals— Atlanta team, Washington coach Scott Brooks, Washington team. Attendance— 20,356 (20,356).

WESTERN CONFERENCE ROCKETS 115, THUNDER 111

HOUSTON — James Harden scored 35 points and the Houston Rockets overcame 51 points from Russell Westbrook in a triple-double, clawing back from a double-digit deficit for a victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Westbrook set a franchise playoff scoring record and added 13 assists and 10 rebounds in the most points ever scored in a postseason triple-double. It was the sixth career playoff triple-double for Westbrook, who had an NBA-record 42 in the regular season.

Game 3 is Friday night in Oklahoma City.

OKLAHOMA CITY (111)

Gibson 3-6 2-2 8, Adams 2-3 1-2 5, Westbrook 17-43 15-18 51, Oladipo 4-14 2-2 11, Roberson 6-12 0-0 12, Singler 0-1 0-0 0, Grant 2-4 4-4 9, McDermott 4-5 0-0 11, Sabonis 0-1 0-0 0, Kanter 2-4 0-0 4, Christon 0-3 0-0 0, Abrines 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 40-97 24-28 111.

HOUSTON (115)

Ariza 2-5 0-0 4, Anderson 1-8 2-2 4, Capela 3-8 1-3 7, Beverley 6-9 1-2 15, Harden 7-17 18-20 35, Hilario 3-3 1-4 7, Gordon 8-14 3-4 22, L.Williams 8-14 2-2 21.

Totals 38-78 28-37 115.

Oklahoma City .........35 33 21 22 — 111 Houston .................26 36 24 29 — 115 3-Point Goals— Oklahoma City 7-30 (McDermott 3-4, Westbrook 2-11, Grant 1-2, Oladipo 1-7, Abrines 0-1, Christon 0-2, Roberson 0-3), Houston 11-29 (L.Williams 3-4, Gordon 3-6, Harden 3-7, Beverley 2-4, Ariza 0-1, Anderson 0-7). Fouled Out— Adams. Rebounds— Oklahoma City 48 (Westbrook 10), Houston 37 (Capela 10). Assists— Oklahoma City 20 (Westbrook 13), Houston 20 (Harden 8). Total Fouls— Oklahoma City 24, Houston 21. Attendance— 18,055 (18,055).

Tuesday’s late game CLIPPERS 99, JAZZ 91

LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffin led a smash-mouth revival of Lob City with 24 points, DeAndre Jordan had a double-double and the Los Angeles Clippers beat Utah to even their NBA Western Conference playoff series at 1-1.

Jordan finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds, and Chris Paul added 21 points and 10 assists for the Clippers, who crushed the Jazz in the paint, 60-38. Jamal Crawford had 10 points.

Game 3 is Friday in Salt Lake City.

UTAH (91)

Ingles 3-5 1-2 9, Hayward 5-15 7-7 20, Favors 5-7 3-5 13, Diaw 2-4 2-2 7, Hill 5-12 0-0 12, J.Johnson 6-15 1-2 13, Withey 1-1 0-0 2, Mack 2-4 0-0 5, Hood 3-7 3-4 10. Totals 32-70 17-22 91.

LA CLIPPERS (99)

Griffin 11-21 1-1 24, Mbah a Moute 2-5 0-0 4, Jordan 9-11 0-3 18, Paul 9-15 0-0 21, Redick 2-7 0-0 4, Pierce 3-4 0-0 6, Speights 3-4 0-0 7, Felton 2-5 0-0 5, Crawford 3-12 4-4 10. Totals 44-84 5-8 99.

Utah .....................18 24 28 21 — 91 LA Clippers ............29 22 28 20 — 99 3-Point Goals— Utah 10-25 (Hayward 3-6, Ingles 2-3, Hill 2-6, Mack 1-1, Diaw 1-2, Hood 1-3, J.Johnson 0-4), LA Clippers 6-20 (Paul 3-4, Speights 1-2, Griffin 1-2, Felton 1-3, Redick 0-2, Mbah a Moute 0-2, Crawford 0-5). Fouled Out— Jordan. Rebounds— Utah 33 (Hill, Favors 7), LA Clippers 39 (Jordan 15). Assists— Utah 15 (Hill 4), LA Clippers 26 (Paul 10). Total Fouls— Utah 16, LA Clippers 23. Technicals— Griffin.

Attendance— 19,060 (19,060).