10 teams which clawed back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Playoffs
It’s not over till it’s over. Being down 3-1 in a best of 7 series will find precious few takers for the team which has to climb the deficit. A deficit which would generally be held insurmountable were it not for these ten cases when teams defied the odd makers and probably bankrupt quite a few Vegas gamblers in the process.
Of the nine teams which have come back from a 3-1 deficit, four of them went on to win the Finals. Whether the Golden State Warriors can add to that remains to be seen.
The first round of the NBA playoffs was a best of five affair till 2003 when the first round started going 7 games. Here is a look at the ten teams which have scratched, clawed and climbed back from the abyss of a 3-1 deficit in the NBA playoffs.
#1 2016 Western Conference Finals: Golden State Warriors defeat Oklahoma City Thunder
In Game 5 Stephen Curry yelled "We ain't going home! We're not going home!" He made sure they didn't with his 31 points. After staving off elimination, the Warriors kept trading punches with the Thunder to inch away in Game 6. Meanwhile, Game 7 saw the Thunder try to pull away early, and they would have managed that too.
This series would have been the ultimate validation for Coach Popovich for resting his players during the regular season. The Warriors had expended considerable energy in the regular season to chase 73 wins. It seemed that fatigue had caught up with them at last.
Until Curry and Thompson decided to go Wild Wild West from beyond the arc that is. Curry dropped 36 points to validate his status as the MVP and led his team one step closer to the promised land.
Also for some inexplicable reason, Steven Adams was off the floor for most of the fourth quarter of Game 7. His presence was a major deterrent to the Warriors throughout the series and in his absence, the defending NBA champions didn't fail to capitalize.
This play with the series all but over was pretty much the exclamation point from Stephen Curry in this series.
Comeback scorelines:
Game 5: Warriors 120, Thunder 111 (At Golden State)
Game 6: Warriors 108, Thunder 101 (At Oklahoma)
Game 7: Warriors 96, Thunder 88 (At Golden State)