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CHICAGO -- Playoff appearances were rare enough for the Washington Wizards let alone series victories. Never mind all that now. John Wall finished with 24 points, Nene scored 20, and the Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls 75-69 on Tuesday night to clinch their first-round series in five games. Bradley Beal scored 17 points, and the fifth-seeded Wizards advanced in the post-season for just the third time since the 1970s. They will meet Indiana or Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Hawks lead the series 3-2. Its a huge step for a franchise that hadnt been to the post-season since 2008, but with Wall and Beal leading the way, they won 44 games during the regular season. "It just shows our continued growth," Beal said. "We played great basketball in this series and we can only continue to get better and better." As for the Bulls? "It is real disappointing," Taj Gibson said. "We put so much work into the season, came out of countless holes." The Wizards turned a halftime tie into a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter and hung on down the stretch. Chicagos comeback chances took a big hit early in the final quarter when Gibson crumbled to the court clutching his left ankle after he tried to block a layup by Wall with the Wizards up by six points. He had to be helped off the court and did not return. The Bulls got within three points in the closing minutes but couldnt grab rebounds when they needed them, particularly after D.J. Augustin hit two free throws to make it 72-69 with 2:18 left. The Wizards grabbed three offensive rebounds while whittling more than a minute off the clock before Beal threw the ball away with a minute left in the game. Carlos Boozer missed on a drive, but the Bulls couldnt convert after a shot-clock violation by Washington with 22.4 seconds left. Chicagos Jimmy Butler missed on a layup off the inbounds, and the Wizards caught a break after Andre Miller missed two free throws. Nene tracked down the loose ball and Beal hit the first free throw to make it 73-69 with 14.6 seconds left before missing the second. But Nene got another rebound, and that led to two free throws by Wall with 7.8 seconds remaining. Nene was back to wreaking havoc after serving a one-game suspension for grabbing Butlers head, whether he was knocking down jumpers or scoring inside. He hit 10 of 17 shots and grabbed seven rebounds. Wall also had seven boards and hit 9 of 11 free throws. Marcin Gortat grabbed 13 rebounds, and the Wizards did something they have rarely done the past three-and-a-half decades -- they moved on. The playoffs have mostly been one-and-done affairs for them -- with a few exceptions -- since they lost to Seattle in the 1979 Finals. They knocked off New Jersey 2-0 in the first round in 1982 and took out Chicago in six games in 2005. In this series, they showed a resolve and killer instinct that wasnt always there in the regular season. "The main thing is to focus in and know what this team is capable of," Wall said. "I just give a lot of credit to my teammates and the coaching staff and the great game plan and making adjustments and committing ourselves to play on every given night." For the Bulls, a season that unfolded in ways they never envisioned is finally over. They expected to challenge Miami for supremacy in the Eastern Conference with Derrick Rose back after sitting out last season, only to lose their star to another season-ending knee injury. As if that wasnt enough, they traded away one of their top remaining players in Luol Deng yet somehow squeezed out 48 victories. No team in the East won more games after New Years Eve, either, but slow starts and poor shooting plagued them in this series. Butler and Kirk Hinrich scored 16 points each and Gibson had 12 for the Bulls. Joakim Noah, whose left knee has bothering him the past few months, added 18 rebounds and seven assists. Boozer, a candidate to be amnestied, added 10 points and nine rebounds in what might have been his final appearance for Chicago. The Wizards outscored the Bulls 20-11 in the third quarter to turn a 41-41 halftime tie into a 61-52 lead going into the fourth. "I am proud of this team," Noah said. "I am proud of the way we competed all year. We dealt with a lot. Whenever a season is over it is always tough." NOTES: The Wizards outrebounded the Bulls 49-43 overall and 15-8 in the fourth quarter. ... Nene declined comment about his suspension at the Wizards shootaround, saying, "I dont want to talk about that." ... Gibson on his injury: "Real painful. I got to see what they (the medical staff) say tomorrow." Custom Nike New York Mets Jerseys .Y. - Everyone expected Clayton Kershaw to pitch a shutout, and he did — a unanimous choice for the NL Cy Young Award. Custom Nike Los Angeles Dodgers Jerseys . Canada will host Japan in a World Group first-round match in 2015. It will be a rematch of their first-round clash last year when Japan defeated Canada 4-1 to reach the World Group quarter-finals for the first time in its history. https://www.customjerseysnikebaseball.com/custom-nike-kansas-city-royals-jerseys/ . Or how his team has defended Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Or just about anything that has happened on the court in the first-round playoff series. Instead, Rivers and his players spent Saturday talking about how they would respond to an audio recording of a man identified as Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend not to bring black people to games. Custom Nike San Diego Padres Jerseys . He has spent much of his adult life trying to give back to his native South Sudan, the war-torn African nation the Cavaliers forward and his family fled when he was a young boy. Custom Nike Minnesota Twins Jerseys . To get things started, heres a little photo tour to get you acquainted with all the main characters.Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Blake Griffin scored 18 points, DeAndre Jordan recorded a double-double and the Los Angeles Clippers breezed past the Detroit Pistons, 113-91, at Staples Center on Monday. Jordan finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds while Jordan Farmar added 15 points for LA, which bounced back from consecutive losses to the Wizards and Bucks over the weekend. Coming home and closing a team out is a really good feeling, Jordan said. After losing two games in a row it feels like you lost 10. Chris Paul committed six turnovers in each of those setbacks but returned to his sure-handed ways, recording 11 points and eight assists while only turning it over once. The Pistons, on the other hand, coughed it up 18 times and trailed by as many as 27 as their two-game winning streak came to a crashing halt. Jodie Meeks netted a game-high 20 points while Andre Drummond donated 18 points and 13 rebounds in a losing cause. We didnt play well and they dominated throughoutt, Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy said.ddddddddddddWe couldnt keep up. They totally tore our defense apart. The Clippers scored the final seven points of the opening quarter for a 29-27 lead, and they went ahead by double digits, 47-36, when Jordans alley-oop dunk capped an 11-2 run in the middle stages of the second. LA was ahead, 55-44, at halftime and stretched the lead to as many as 26 in the third quarter. Matt Barnes hit back-to-back 3-pointers at one point and was fouled on the second one. His free throw made it a 73-53 game, and the Clippers led by a comfortable 86-63 margin going into the fourth. Game Notes Griffin, who also pulled down seven rebounds and handed out seven assists, moved past Danny Manning and sits fifth on the Clippers all-time scoring list with 7,122 points ... The Clippers have won the last eight meetings ... The Clippers shot 53.8 percent from the floor and made half of their 24 3-point attempts. ' ' '