Hawks hunt down Wizards

With balanced scoring and a big fourth quarter, the red-hot Atlanta Hawks notched their eighth straight NBA win on Sunday, 120-89 over the Washington Wizards.

Kyle Korver hit five of seven from three point range and led eight Atlanta players in double figures with 19 points.

DeMarre Carroll delivered 16 points with four steals, Al Horford netted 15 points and Jeff Teague had 11 with a game-high 10 assists for the Hawks, who own a 3 1/2-game lead on Toronto and Chicago for best record in the East.

With the win they separated themselves further atop from Washington atop the Southeast division as they head into a four-game road trip.

John Wall led the Wizards with 15 points and eight assists, but also coughed up eight of their 20 turnovers. Wall’s turnover tally was one shy of Atlanta’s total of nine.

Atlanta’s reserves also outscored Washington’s 48-27 to help the Hawks notch their fifth wire-to-wire victory of the season.

In the other match, Chris Bosh scored 34 points, Hassan Whiteside had career highs of 23 points and 16 rebounds off the bench and Miami beat Los Angeles to end a three-game road skid.

Whiteside was 10 of 13 from the field and 3 of 4 from the line in 28 minutes. Dwyane Wade added 17 points and 10 assists.

Blake Griffin scored 26 points and Chris Paul had 23 points and nine assists for the Clippers. They had won two straight and six of their previous eight.