The Washington Wizards let a 19-point lead slip away in a gut-wrenching Game 4 loss to the Indiana Pacers, leaving them one loss away from their season coming to an end.
Washington will look to avoid elimination Tuesday on the road in Game 5. History suggests that while the Wizards may not be eliminated in Game 5, they will eventually be eliminated.
Only eight NBA have ever rallied from a 3-1 series deficit in a seven-game series. Coincidentally, Washington is one of those teams.
- 1968 Boston Celtics
- 1970 Los Angeles Lakers
- 1979 Washington Bullets
- 1981 Boston Celtics
- 1995 Houston Rockets
- 1997 Miami Heat
- 2003 Detroit Pistons
- 2006 Phoenix Suns
Only two of the eight teams -- the Rockets and 1968 Celtics -- did so by winning two of the final three games on the road like the Wizards would have to. To their credit, the Wizards are 4-1 on the road in the postseaosn.
"We can't relax," Pacers center Roy Hibbert told reporters. "I don't know what the statistics are, but we don't want to be one of those [teams that blows a 3-1 lead]. So we've got to go out there and play our best game back home. They're going to give it their all again and hopefully we'll be ready."
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