Washington Wizards’ Paul Pierce gets off the game winning shot between Atlanta Hawks defenders Kyle Korver (26) and Kent Bazemore (24) as time expires in the second half of Game 3 of the second round of the NBA basketball playoffs Saturday, May 9, 2015, in Washington. The Wizards won 103-101. Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP
WASHINGTON — Paul Pierce banked in the game-winner on Saturday to lift the short-handed Washington Wizards to a 103-101 NBA playoff victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Pierce’s heroics gave the Wizards a two-games-to-one lead over Eastern Conference top seeds Atlanta in their best-of-seven second-round series — and spared Washington what would have been an embarrassing defeat in a game they led by 21 points in the fourth quarter.
Guard Bradley Beal and forwards Nene and Otto Porter scored 17 points apiece for the Wizards, who played their second straight game without injured All-Star guard John Wall.
Wall, who has five fractures in his non-shooting left hand, watched from the sidelines in street clothes.
He saw the Wizards build their lead to 21 with 10 minutes left to play, only for Atlanta, sparked by their reserves, storm back with a 21-3 scoring run.
That included a stretch of 17 unanswered points to make it 94-91 with 3:12 to play.
Mike Muscala pulled the Hawks level with a three-pointer with 14.8 seconds to play.
Pierce held the ball for the last shot and banked in a jumper as the buzzer sounded, sparking a wild celebration among his team-mates.
The Wizards will try to stretch their series advantage when they host game four on Monday.
In Western Conference action on Saturday, the Memphis Grizzlies were hoping edge ahead of top-seeded Golden State when they hosted the Warriors in game three of their second-round set.
The Grizzlies knotted the series at one game apiece when they handed the Warriors their first defeat of the post-season in game two on Tuesday — becoming just the third team this season to beat them on their home floor in Oakland, California.