Late Paul Pierce shot gives Washington Wizards win

A last-gasp jump shot from Paul Pierce has given the Washington Wizards a 103-101 win over the Atlanta Hawks in their Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Despite playing without John Wall, the home side looked the stronger from the start as Ramon Sessions led them to a big early lead, putting the Wizards 18 points ahead midway through the second quarter.

Bradley Beal and Garrett Temple kept the points coming after the break as Washington appeared to be heading to a comfortable win with a 19-point advantage at the start of the fourth quarter.

Despite increasing the gap further early in the final period, Atlanta started to fight back with less than 10 minutes remaining, with Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder quickly cutting the deficit to 10 points.

Schroder continued to find the basket and a 27-foot effort from Mike Muscala tied the scores with just 14 seconds remaining, but Pierce's jump shot at the buzzer secured the win for the Wizards.

The result puts Washington 2-1 up in their series ahead of game four on Monday.