Hawks deliver early playoff KO, romp past Wizards

Atlanta Hawks’ Paul Millsap and Kent Bazemore celebrate a score against the Wizards during Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Saturday, April 22, 2017, in Atlanta. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

ATLANTA — The Hawks are back in the series and the bad blood with the Washington Wizards shows no signs of letting up.

Paul Millsap scored 29 points and Dennis Schroder had 27 as Atlanta delivered an early knockout blow in a 116-98 victory Saturday, slicing the Wizards’ lead to 2-1 in the opening-round playoff matchup.

After two tight losses in Washington exposed plenty of ill feelings between the teams, Millsap and Washington’s Markieff Morris continued to go at it in Game 3.

“He’s a crybaby,” Morris said afterward. “You get all the calls when you’re a crybaby. That’s how it went tonight.”

Those comments were quickly relayed to Millsap at the postgame news conference.

“It definitely got personal now,” he replied, before offering some unsolicited advice to Morris: “Take his loss and go back to the hotel, be ready for the next game.”

Cheered on by a raucous home crowd, the Hawks built a 25-point lead by late in the first quarter and were never seriously challenged by the Wizards.

John Wall kept up his dazzling play in the series, scoring 29 points, but he was essentially a one-man team. The other Washington starters combined to score 30 points on 14-of-45 shooting.

Beal, in particular, had a miserable night after averaging 26.5 points in the first two games. He was held to 12 points on 6-of-20 shooting, missing all six of his attempts beyond the arc.

“That’s probably the most I’ve ever seen him air-ball in one game,” Wall said. “He’ll figure it out.”

Game 4 is Monday night in Atlanta.