I thought Denver did this in the bubble
If any NBA team comes back from 0-3
- Thread starter Rocket Scientist
- Start date
Denver won the first game, but eventually were down 3-1. No team has ever done it coming back down from 3-0 and I believe only three have forced a game 7.
Tres Leches
Empire Business
in my lifetime only remember rasheed wallace coming close both teams played hard 
Rocket Scientist
Superstar
both teams played hard classic quote .
JesusFOREVER
Superstar
Itll happen soon
Rocket Scientist
Superstar
When it does it ,it will be crazy
I was way too busy with work at that stage of my life, remembered how that series played out but don't remember the games at all. Was shocked to look now and see Scottie and Sabonis were both still playing. Could have sworn they were retired by then.
I remember as a Blazer fan it looked really cool to imagine it maybe happening but we never really thought it was gonna happen. Just expected the other shoe to drop and the Mavs to close it out sooner or later.
It's a big difference. Even if the outcomes were random chance, winning 4 out of 4 (3% likelihood) is much more difficult than winning 4 out of 5 (19% likelihood). On top of that a lot more teams have had the chance to come back from 2-0 down (442 chances in NBA history) than the chance to come back from 3-0 down (146 chances in NBA history).
So coming back from 2-0 down is 6x easier to do and teams have had 3x as many chances to do it. Combine those two mathematically, and even if the outcome of NBA games was completely random, we would have expected a team down 2-0 to come back and win 83 times in NBA history, but a team down 3-0 would only come back and win 4 times in NBA history.
Of course, outcomes aren't random. A team down 2-0 usually got beat twice on the road. They might be an equally matched team, they know they just have to take care of business themselves and it'll be back to 2-2. All they have to do is win ONE game on the other team's home floor and they got that shyt.
Whereas a team down 3-0 didn't just lose two road games, they lost a home game too. A team like that is almost always outmatched. You rarely lose 3 straight to start the series unless you're legit inferior. So of the 146 teams that were down 3-0, probably 120 of them had zero shot at winning the series. Only 20-30 teams were even good enough to have a chance at all. And those teams not only had to take care of both of their remaining home games, but they had to win BOTH games on the road. That's a much taller order.
FunkDoc1112
Heavily Armed
The only way I could ever see a team coming back from 0-3 is if one of those losses was either a fluke game winner or EGREGIOUS ref ball, to the point where the energy going into Game 6, it feels more like the team coming back is in control momentum-wise and should really be up 3-2 ready to close it out. But even that's a big stretch. More often than not, you lose 3 straight games in a playoff series you're just plain not as good as the other team.
Even in situations where a team has gone up 2-0 and dropped 3 straight games, they still only have to get their act together and win 2 straight to advance, as opposed to 4 straight. A margin for error that thin against a team that demonstrably has your number is damn near impossible.
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SymbolicOne09
All Star
Scary hours
When I wrote that, I didn't imagine that the clearly better team would be down 3-0. There's a first time for everything.
Either way the game ends, history gonna be made.
Just saw another one where the Nuggets almost did it to the Jazz.
1994 NBA Western Conference Semifinals - Nuggets vs. Jazz | Basketball-Reference.com
Summary and statistics for the 1994 NBA Western Conference Semifinals - Nuggets vs. Jazz
www.basketball-reference.com
That would have been incredibly embarrassing cause the Jazz were led by prime Malone, Stockton, and Hornacek with post-prime Chambers off the bench, while the Nuggets were an 8-seed led by Reggie Williams, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and a very raw Dikembe early in his career. Strange fukking year for the Nuggets and goes to show how not ready a lot of teams were in that period.
Just saw another one where the Nuggets almost did it to the Jazz.
1994 NBA Western Conference Semifinals - Nuggets vs. Jazz | Basketball-Reference.com
Summary and statistics for the 1994 NBA Western Conference Semifinals - Nuggets vs. Jazz
That would have been incredibly embarrassing cause the Jazz were led by prime Malone, Stockton, and Hornacek with post-prime Chambers off the bench, while the Nuggets were an 8-seed led by Reggie Williams, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and a very raw Dikembe early in his career. Strange fukking year for the Nuggets and goes to show how not ready a lot of teams were in that period.
Is this in that Stockton & Malone thread?
If they blew that, it would never have been a question that they were all-time playoff chokers.
Rocket Scientist
Superstar
I man up.Celtics win see yall in December