CLEVELAND -- The Washington Wizards lost Nene to a knee injury, and then won the game with a strong effort on defence. John Wall scored 21 points, Bradley Beal had 17 and the Wizards beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 96-83 on Sunday night. Washington had a 66-63 lead midway through the third quarter when Nene departed with a sprained left knee. The Wizards then held the Cavaliers to 11 fourth-quarter points to return to .500 at 28-28 on the season. They also strengthened their hold on the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference standings. "Were a team right now thats just trying to play the right way and get on a roll," Wall said. Nene had eight points, four rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes. He was coming off one of his best games with the Wizards, when he had a career-high 30 points in Saturdays win over New Orleans, including the game-winning dunk with less than a second left. Coach Randy Wittman said Nene banged knees with Spencer Hawes and will get an MRI on Monday. Luol Deng led Cleveland with 17 points and the injury-riddled Cavaliers lost for the second straight time after winning six in a row. The Cavaliers played without centre Anderson Varejao (sore back) and guards Dion Waiters (hyperextended left knee) and C.J. Miles (sprained left ankle). While the Wizards are in good shape to snag a playoff spot in the weak Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers are five games out of the final post-season slot. Kyrie Irving, who scored 15 points, admitted that hes looking at the standings. "You have no choice but to pay attention to it," he said. "We want to accomplish something, but it starts with every single game. Time is of the essence right now." Washington led 78-72 after three quarters, and then grabbed control in the fourth. Two baskets by Kevin Seraphin, who replaced Nene, and five points by Beal helped the Wizards build a double-digit lead before Trevor Arizas 3-pointer with a little over a minute left made it 96-81. "We felt bad when he got hurt, but during the game, you have to keep focused the whole way, which we did," Seraphin said. The Cavaliers shot 49 per cent in the first half, but were 4 of 19 from the field in the fourth quarter. "The ball just seemed to stick in one area," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said. "It was almost like we played in an elevator at times. It wasnt crisp like it was in the first half." Ariza scored 15 points and Marcin Gortat had 13 points and 13 rebounds. Hawes, playing his second game since being acquired from Philadelphia on Thursday, had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland. The Wizards used a 12-0 run midway through the first quarter to go ahead for good. Cleveland got within one point several times in the third quarter but never pulled even. The game featured two of the top young point guards in the league in Irving and Wall. Irving was the MVP of the All-Star game and Wall won the dunk contest. Wall ended the first half with a dunk and two 3-pointers in the final 1:21. He banked in a 30-footer to beat the halftime buzzer, giving Washington a 58-52 lead. Washington scored the first two baskets on a tip-in and a fast break after a bad pass by Irving, leading to a timeout by Brown just 31 seconds into the game. Browns message obviously worked as the Cavaliers took a 13-8 lead, but the Wizards scored the next 12 points to go ahead 20-13. The teams split the season series, with the road team winning all four games. "The last time we played Cleveland, we gave the game away," Ariza said. "They played harder than us the last time. We did our best to prevent that from happening again." Hawes made his home debut late in the first quarter. He had 13 points and seven rebounds in 14 first-half minutes. NOTES: While theres no timetable for the return of Clevelands injured players, Varejao, who has missed the last six games, was on the court at Saturdays practice. Waiters hasnt been able to run since being injured Tuesday while Miles is still using crutches after hurting his ankle Wednesday. ... The Wizards are 11-6 in their last 17 road games. Washington is 14-14 on the road and at home. ... Cavaliers F Tristan Thompson, a native of Canada, celebrated his countrys win over Sweden in the gold-medal hockey game at the Olympics. "Were supposed to win," he said with a smile ... Wizards F Otto Porter, the third pick in the draft, didnt play for the fourth time in six games. JJ Redick Jersey . The 22-year-old Spanish midfielder recently signed a new three-year contract with Chelsea, and after spending last season on loan with Valencia in La Liga, Romeu will move to the Bundesliga for the 2014-15 campaign. Darius Miller Pelicans Jersey . -- LeBron James warned the Orlando Magic to stop double-teaming him and ignoring James Jones. https://www.pelicanslockerroom.com/Etwau...Edition-Jersey/. -- Jonathan Diaz is easy to spot in the Blue Jays clubhouse. Josh Gray Jersey . George Hill had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who stayed atop the overall NBA standings despite losing twice on their West Coast trip. Los Angeles kept it close into the second half before the Pacers finished an easy win over the injury-riddled Lakers, who have lost five straight. Anthony Davis Pelicans Jersey . -- Arizona came out of its last meeting with California a bit discombobulated, hurting from its first loss and the loss of forward Brandon Ashley for the rest of the season. NEW YORK -- Turning around their fourth-quarter performance was a small step. Pablo Prigionis goal is for the New York Knicks to turn around their whole season. "I believe we can change this situation (by) working hard every day and try to play 100 per cent every possession, every day, and I dont know, keep going," Prigioni said. "We cant be sad because of what we did in the last 20 games. We have to look in front and just keep going." Carmelo Anthony scored 35 points, Andrea Bargnani added 23 and the Knicks beat the Atlanta Hawks 111-106 on Saturday night. Prigioni had a season-high 11 points and was a spark in the decisive 11-0 run midway through the final period as the Knicks finished strong one night after a fourth-quarter flop cost them in a loss at Boston. New York could have been looking at a three-game winning streak, but was outscored 22-13 in the final 12 minutes of its 90-86 loss to the Celtics. "We werent stale tonight in the fourth quarter like we were last night," coach Mike Woodson said. "We played what, four games in five days, and it was kind of nice to see us bounce back like that." Lou Williams scored a season-high 27 points in his best game since returning from knee surgery, but the Hawks committed 27 turnovers -- most in the NBA this season -- that led to 36 points and negated their 60.6 per cent shooting. "I think tonight was a night where the most aggressive team won. I think you give a lot of credit to the Knicks," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "Defensively, they were creating a lot of turnovers, creating a lot of problems for us." Paul Millsap scored 18 but had nine turnovers and fouled out. Al Horford finished with 17 points. The Knicks wore their regular whites instead of the alternate orange uniforms theyve been wearing for weekend home games. Theyre 0-6 in the orange, including a 110-90 loss to the Hawks at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, when they caused a colour clash with Atlantas red. New Yorks lead was just 87-83 before Anthonys 3-pointer with 6:26 remaining. Prigioni then hit one, followed that with a steal and a layup, and then fed Bargnani for another 33 that made it 98-83 with 5:11 to play.dddddddddddd Starting for injured point guard Raymond Felton, Prigioni also had six assists and harassed the Hawks ballhandlers into a number of mistakes. Kyle Korver scored 13 points, making four of Atlantas six 3-pointers in the third quarter to extend his NBA record to 93 straight games with at least one. That helped the Hawks pull to 81-77, but they coughed it up seven times in the fourth. "We couldnt capitalize off of the mistakes they made," Horford said. "There were a few times we had a fast break in which we could have scored and we threw the ball away. I think that cost us the game. That kind of deflated us as a team." Still without injured starters Tyson Chandler and Felton, the Knicks also were missing Kenyon Martin, who has a strained left abdominal muscle. But they somewhat surprisingly had Amare Stoudemire, who said Friday he expected to be ordered to take the night off by the training staff in what was the teams fourth game in five days. Instead, Stoudemire -- who was barred from playing on back-to-back nights earlier this season and had his minutes restricted coming off another knee surgery -- said he felt great and wanted to play. And face it, the Knicks need all the help they can get. Woodson acknowledged that Stoudemire probably wouldnt have played if the Knicks were 15-5, but theyre only 7-16. Stoudemire scored nine. Atlanta had a one-point lead with under 5 minutes left in the second quarter before Tim Hardaway Jr. made a 3-pointer and dunked, starting a 12-0 run that gave the Knicks a 52-41 advantage. J.R. Smith got the start for Martin after taking just one shot in the loss at Boston. Smith said after the game he was focusing on distributing to his teammates, an idea so out of character that Woodson had trouble keeping a straight face when asked about it Saturday. Smith took eight shots, but made only one and finished with two points. NOTES: Woodson said the medical staff was still evaluating Martins injury, but he expects the forward to be out a little while. ... The Hawks were without Gustavo Ayon, who didnt travel because of a sprained left ankle. ' ' '