Wizards complete four-game sweep of Raptors
InsideHoops.com | April 27, 2015
The Wizards are on to the second round. Here's the Washington Post reporting:
Paul Pierce strutted off the Verizon Center floor Sunday evening to a standing ovation, beckoning more noise from the broom-wielding capacity crowd, soaking in yet another memorable playoff moment. He had just haunted the Toronto Raptors one final time, applying the finishing touches to the Washington Wizards’ Game 4 125-94 series-clinching victory with a soul-crushing trio of three-pointers in seven third-quarter minutes. With the Wizards enjoying a 23-point cushion, his job as Raptors bane, which included a mild critique and a flurry of big shots, was complete.
The victory sealed the first four-game playoff sweep in Wizards franchise history, a period spanning 54 seasons, four nicknames and three cities, and ensured that the Wizards, at Pierce’s request, would not have to make another agonizing trip through customs to cross the Canadian border.
The Wizards became the first team since the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 to sweep an opponent without home-court advantage and now await the winner of the Atlanta Hawks-Brooklyn Nets matchup for their second consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals, a feat they hadn’t accomplished since back-to-back appearances in 1978 and 1979.
Seven of the Wizards’ eight rotation players reached double figures, exhibiting the kind of the balance the Wizards have relentlessly preached the entire campaign en route to their highest point total for a regulation game this season.
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