The Mavericks find themselves in a tough spot in the 2024 NBA Finals.
Dallas rallied late on Thursday night but couldn’t complete the comeback against Boston, dropping Game 3 106-99. With the loss, the Mavericks fall to 3-0 in the series against the Celtics and are in danger of elimination.
This is the first time the Mavs have found themselves in a tight spot this postseason, and it’s uncharted territory for Dallas, as Jason Kidd’s team has never lost a Western Conference series three times before.
The basketball team has the unlikely but not impossible task of winning four straight games to claim the Larry O’Brien Trophy, but history has not been on Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and co.’s side.
Let’s look at the history of 3-0 leads in the NBA Finals.
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Mavericks fans, look away.
Teams that have led 3-0 in the NBA Finals have won 100 percent of the games since then. This year marks the 15th time one team has won the first three games of a series, and all 15 winners have ultimately won the title. That should be music to Boston fans’ ears.
Of those 15, nine have ended in a series sweep. Only one time has the series gone to a Game 7 after one team led 3-0 — in 1951, when the Rochester Royals led 3-0 but lost three straight games to the New York Knicks before winning the winner-take-all final.
In fact, no NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs: Teams are 156-0 when they’re 3-0 down in the postseason, regardless of the round.
Below is a list of series in which one team has won 3-0 in the NBA Finals, provided by Land of Basketball.
Year Teams to go up 3-0OpponentsResults2024 Boston CelticsDallas MavericksTBD2018 Golden State WarriorsCleveland CavaliersWarriors win 4-02017 Golden State WarriorsCleveland CavaliersWarriors win 4-12007 San Antonio SpursCleveland CavaliersSpurs win 4-02002 Los Angeles LakersNew Jersey NetsLakers win 4-01996 Chicago BullsSeattle SuperSonicsBulls win 4-21995 Houston RocketsOrlando MagicRockets win 4-01989 Detroit PistonsLos Angeles LakersPistons win 4-01983 Philadelphia 76ersLos Angeles Lakers76ers win 4-01975 Golden State WarriorsWashington BulletsWarriors win 4-01971 Milwaukee BucksWashington BulletsBucks win 4-01959 Boston CelticsLos Angeles LakersCeltics win 4-01951 Rochester RoyalsNew York KnicksRoyals win 4-31949 Los Angeles LakersWashington CapitolsLakers win 4-21947 Philadelphia WarriorsChicago StagsWarriors win 4-1
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