When a team takes a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series, it’s time to start looking to the next round or championship parade.
most of the time.
There are several examples in the history of sports of teams leading 3-0 in a series and losing three in a row before recovering. Some of them have already lost him a game and a series.
That’s the history facing the Miami Heat. They won the first three games of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals Series against the Boston Celtics, but lost the next three, including Game 6 at home on Saturday night.
With Game 7 in Boston on Monday night, the Heat are 48 minutes away from historic disgrace. No NBA team has beaten a 3-0 series lead since 1947, when the NBA was called the American Basketball Association and had teams like the Cleveland Rebels and the St. Louis Bombers. In this year’s Western Conference finals, the Denver Nuggets took a 3-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Lakers before going on a four-game winning streak.
However, the collapse after leading 3 wins and 0 losses in the series has also occurred in other leagues. Let’s relive some of those dark moments (for the team in one of those series, anyway).
baseball
Sports’ most famous 3-0 comeback certainly happened in 2004, when the Boston Red Sox overpowered their hated rivals the Yankees and made Major League Baseball history.
A victory in the American League Championship Series that was plucked from the mouth of defeat puts the legendary Bambino curse, which is credited for permanently defeating the Red Sox after they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. Brought to you by ignoring.
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said, “This is obviously a blowout for us,” and the Heat may soon have that feeling.
Only once has a major league team fought back from a 3-0 deficit, but it didn’t get the job done. The Tampa Bay Rays led the series 3-0 at the 2020 ALCS in neutral San Diego due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Houston Astros won the next three games, but Tampa Bay won the deciding game, 4-2, and lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I don’t know if I slept,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the aftermath of Game 6. lots of anxiety. “
No team has broken the 3-0 series lead in the World Series, but in the Japan Series in 1958, the Nishitetsu Lions reversed their 3-0 deficit to beat the Yomiuri Giants, who then defeated the Kintetsu Buffaloes. accomplished the same feat. in 1989.
hockey
The NHL has had the most collapses in four games to date, one of which happened in the Stanley Cup final.
In 1942, the Detroit Red Wings won the first three games, but the Toronto Maple Leafs fought back with four straight victories. The Cup was changed to his best-of-seven format in 1939, making it the first series to go all the way to the end.
“To Jiminy” was the Leafs’ great Sill Appli’s postgame reaction.
The first comeback in four games was the Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1975, the Philadelphia Flyers against the Boston Bruins in 2010, and the Los Angeles Kings against the San Jose Sharks in 2014. Achieved in early rounds.
basketball
No NBA team has — yet — lost in a series leading 3-0, but some, like the Heat this year, have lost three in a row before going 3-3.
It happened only once, in the 1951 final. The Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings via Cincinnati, Kansas City, Missouri and Omaha) led the Knicks 3-0 after a three-game comeback.The final game ended in the final seconds before Royals’ Bob Davis Scored with two free throws.
This is the only championship for the Royals/Kings franchise in any city. The Knicks had to wait until 1970 to play their first game.
A Game 7 comeback after a three-game collapse had been achieved in previous rounds by the Utah Jazz vs. Denver Nuggets in 1994 and the Dallas Mavericks vs. Portland Trail Blazers in 2003.
I mean, the NBA has never had a complete collapse, but what about basketball as a whole?
How could we forget the classic Beermen Ace series?
In the 2016 Philippine Cup Finals, the Alaska Aces looked like they could claim the title with a three-game winning streak. (Their name comes from their sponsor, Alaskan Milk, not their home country.)
But it was a mistake to leave out reigning champions San Miguel-Biamen, who won four in a row and accomplished something no NBA team had ever done before.
The Celtics will want to face Biermann on Monday night.
