The Washington Wizards have started their Eastern Conference semi-final series against the Atlanta Hawks with a 104-98 victory at the Philips Arena.

The conference's top seeds started the game well, surging 11 points ahead by the end of the first quarter thanks to early shots from DeMarre Carroll and Al Horford.

Washington started to cut Atlanta's lead at the start of the third quarter as John Wall found the basket, before a couple of Marcin Gortat free throws tied the scores, but a Kyle Korver three-pointer left the Hawks just in front going into the final spell.

The Wizards took the lead less than two minutes into the fourth though, and never fell behind again as Atlanta struggled with their shooting, taking almost five minutes to add their first points of the fourth.

Korver and Jeff Teague got the Hawks to within a point, but Otto Porter Jr made a couple of vital shots in the final three minutes to put the win beyond doubt.

The sides play again tomorrow.