Wiz look to continue their winning ways

The Washington Wizards are right at home on the road.

Over the last two years, the Wizards have been the ultimate road warriors in the playoffs, winning eight of nine games away from D.C. and becoming the first team in NBA history to capture four straight Game 1s in the other team’s arena.

Their latest road victory gave the Wizards a surprising 1-0 lead over top-seeded Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The teams meet again Tuesday night at Philips Arena, with the Hawks desperate to even things up before the best-ofseven series shifts to Washington for Games 3 and 4.

“You try to get two on the road, but most importantly try to get the first game,” Wizards star John Wall said. “I feel like that’s the key game.”

Out West, No. 1-seeded Golden State and MVP Stephen Curry will try to keep up their rampage through the postseason when they host the Grizzlies in Game 2 of their conference semifinal.

Like Washington, the Warriors have yet to lose in the playoffs, sweeping New Orleans in the opening round before beating Memphis 101-86.

Washington, the fifth seed in the East and coming off a sweep of Toronto, extended its amazing road record by rallying from an early 11-point deficit to beat the Hawks 104-98 in Game 1.

Atlanta was playing on just a 36-hour turnaround after taking longer than expected to get past Brooklyn in the first round. The Wizards had a week between series.

It showed. The Hawks turned in the ultimate Jekyll-and-Hyde performance, shooting 64 percent in the opening quarter to lead 63-53 at the half, before stumbling to just 25 percent over the final two periods, including a dreadful 5-of-28 showing in the fourth.

On one crucial possession with just over 2 minutes remaining, the Hawks grabbed five offensive rebounds but missed six straight shots — three of them right under the basket.

The Hawks had plenty of good looks throughout Game 1, providing hope that their loss was just an aberration, partly the result of a quirky schedule that forced them to play what were essentially back-to-back games from one round to the next.

While no one was using fatigue as an excuse, it was clear the Hawks felt they did plenty of things right in the series opener.

“Internally, we felt like we won the game,” forward Paul Millsap said. “We feel good about it. A10-point lead going into halftime, then we come back out and miss open shots. We took some good shots, just missed.”