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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Patrick Andres

How Many Teams Have Come Back From 3–1 Deficits in the NBA Playoffs?

Three Nuggets defend the Clippers' Kawhi Leonard during their 2020 playoff series. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

In the world of playoff basketball, a certain mystique surrounds the words three and one.

A 3–1 margin in a best-of-seven series is not a 3–2 margin, which is quite common. It is not a 3–0 deficit, which no team has ever overcome. A 3–1 deficit lies in the space between normality and impossibility—that narrative driver of sports called improbability, which is where the magic happens.

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