The Cleveland Cavaliers are now down 3-0 in the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors after their heartbreaking loss in Game 3 Wednesday night. The Cavs came back down from 3-1 last year, but can they do the impossible of coming down from 3-0?
It's never been done in the NBA Finals, but neither has coming back from 3-1. Just one win in Game 4 can begin the "3-1" memes all over again.
JR Smith, in a deleted tweet where he claims he was hacked, said this after Game 3:
Could Cleveland actually do it? I'm not betting on it, but I'm not going to say it's impossible (word to Kevin Garnett).
Coming back from 3-0 and winning has happened before in professional sports, just not in the NBA. However, forcing a Game 7 after being down 3-0 has occurred in the playoffs (once in the Finals).
The only problem is that it's only happened three times. The last time it occurred was in 2003. Let's take a look at those teams to make it happen.
1951 NBA Finals: Rochester Royals vs New York Knicks
My goodness, talk about going way back. The Royals were able to win the NBA Finals back in 1951, despite blowing their 3-0 lead to the New York Knicks. They were able to win a close Game 7, 79-75.
Here's the game-by-game breakdown:
Game 1 @ Rochester (April 7): Rochester 92, New York 65
Game 2 @ Rochester (April 8): Rochester 99, New York 84
Game 3 @ New York (April 11): Rochester 78, New York 71
Game 4 @ New York (April 13): New York 79, Rochester 73
Game 5 @ Rochester (April 15): New York 92, Rochester 89
Game 6 @ New York (April 18): New York 80, Rochester 73
Game 7 @ Rochester (April 21): Rochester 79, New York 75
1994 WCSF: Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz
The Denver Nuggets were a crazy cinderella team this year. In the best-of-5 first round, the Nuggets became the first 8th seed in NBA history to beat the No. 1 seed, defeating the Seattle SuperSonics in five games. They were down 0-2 to start that series.
In the second round, they found themselves down 3-0 to the Utah Jazz. However, they rallied to become the second team ever to force a Game 7. They ended up losing that game though, 91-81.
Game-by-game breakdown below:
The last time a team has ever forced a Game 7 being down 3-0 in the playoffs was in 2003 with the 6-seed Portland Trail Blazers against the 3-seed Dallas Mavericks in the first round. Portland, however, came up short in Game 7.
The Blazers lost, 107-95, thanks to Dirk Nowitzki's 31 points and 11 rebounds. Dirk had 12 of those points in the fourth.
Here are some cool quotes from that game:
Game 1 @ Delta Center, Salt Lake City (May 10): Utah 100, Denver 91
Game 2 @ Delta Center, Salt Lake City (May 12): Utah 104, Denver 94
Game 3 @ McNichols Sports Arena, Denver (May 14): Utah 111, Denver 109 (OT) (Karl Malone hits the game-tying shot (he stepped on the line for 2 points) with 9.2 seconds left, forcing OT)
Game 4 @ McNichols Sports Arena, Denver (May 15): Denver 83, Utah 82 (Reggie Williams hits the game winner with 1.9 seconds remaining)
Game 5 @ Delta Center, Salt Lake City (May 17): Denver 109, Utah 101 (2OT)
Game 6 @ McNichols Sports Arena, Denver (May 19): Denver 94, Utah 91 (Denver became the first team since the 1951 New York Knicks to force a Game 7 after being down 0–3)
Game 7 @ Delta Center, Salt Lake City (May 21): Utah 91, Denver 81
2003 Playoffs: Dallas Mavericks vs Portland Trail Blazers
The last time a team has ever forced a Game 7 being down 3-0 in the playoffs was in 2003 with the 6-seed Portland Trail Blazers against the 3-seed Dallas Mavericks in the first round. Portland, however, came up short in Game 7.
The Blazers lost, 107-95, thanks to Dirk Nowitzki's 31 points and 11 rebounds. Dirk had 12 of those points in the fourth.
Here are some cool quotes from that game:
"I know nobody's ever done it before and I suppose we didn't want to be the first ones," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "But what are you going to do about it?"Game-by-game breakdown:
"I know a lot of people didn't believe that we could come back and win three games," Portland coach Maurice Cheeks said. "We really believed we could win this seventh game."
| Game | Date | Visitor | Score | Home | Score | Record
(POR-DAL)
| Venue | TV Time | Recap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 19 | Portland | 86 | Dallas | 96 | 0–1 | American Airlines Center, Dallas | TNT 8:00 EDT/7:00CT | Recap |
| 2 | April 23 | Portland | 99 | Dallas | 103 | 0–2 | American Airlines Center, Dallas | TNT 9:30 EDT/8:30CT | Recap |
| 3 | April 25 | Dallas | 115 | Portland | 103 | 0–3 | Rose Garden Arena, Portland | ESPN 10:30 EDT/7:30PT | Recap |
| 4 | April 27 | Dallas | 79 | Portland | 98 | 1–3 | Rose Garden Arena, Portland | TNT 8:00 EDT/7:00PT | Recap |
| 5 | April 30 | Portland | 103 | Dallas | 99 | 2–3 | American Airlines Center, Dallas | TNT 8:00 EDT/7:00CT | Recap |
| 6 | May 2 | Dallas | 103 | Portland | 125 | 3–3 | Rose Garden Arena, Portland | ESPN 10:30 EDT/7:30PT | Recap |
| 7 | May 4 | Portland | 95 | Dallas | 107 | 3–4 | American Airlines Center, Dallas | ABC 3:30 EDT/2:30CT | Recap |
| Dallas wins series 4–3 | |||||||||
It all starts with them winning Game 4 first on Friday night.
