History favors Boston to knock off Washington. Sure the series is 2-2 heading into Wednesday’s Game 5, sure the Wizards have held Isaiah Thomas in check for a couple of games in a row while John Wall has gone off, but history suggests none of that matters.
Weird stat: when the lower seed is plus-20 or better in a 2-2 series like Washington (plus-24), they've lost all five series since 1984.
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) May 8, 2017
Milwaukee lost to Toronto in that same scenario (Bucks were also plus-24 through four games) in the first round.
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) May 8, 2017
Still, in this PBT Extra I discuss why I think this series may be the exception to the rule, and that Washington is a better matchup against Cleveland in the next round. Not that anyone in the East is a threat to Cleveland right now, but relatively.