Hawks down Wizards to level NBA series

The top-seeded Atlanta Hawks downed the Washington Wizards 106-90 to even their NBA second-round playoff series at one game apiece.

DeMarre Carroll led the Hawks with 20 points and Al Horford and Paul Millsap scored 18 apiece for Atlanta as they pulled level in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference set on Tuesday.

Millsap and Horford combined for 11 assists, with Millsap pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds as the Hawks made the most of the injury absence of Wizards point guard John Wall.

Wall missed the game with a wrist injury suffered in game one of the series, in which the Wizards shocked the Hawks 104-98.

He was scratched from game two less than an hour before tip-off.

Ramon Sessions, starting in place of Wall, led the Wizards with 21 points. Bradley Beal finished with 20 points while Paul Pierce and Otto Porter had 15 points apiece for a Washington team that suffered their first defeat of these playoffs.

The Wizards will try to regain the series lead when they host game three on Saturday.

In Western Conference action, newly crowned NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry led the Golden State Warriors against the Memphis Grizzlies in Oakland.

Curry and the Warriors were trying to build on their game-one victory, a more pressing concern, Curry said, than his MVP award.

"Obviously, we're in the middle of a playoff run and that is the most important thing, but today is a celebration, for sure," Curry said. "I want to be able to take the time to really appreciate what this means, and that's why we're here."

The Grizzlies were hoping the return of point guard Mike Conley would make a difference in game two.

Conley missed the series opener after surgery to repair a facial fracture suffered in game three of the Grizzlies' first-round win over Portland.
Source: AFP