No NBA team has ever made it back to win the series after trailing 0-3 in the playoffs. However, the Dallas Mavericks believe they can be the first one to do it after avoiding the sweep in the Western Conference Finals matchup against the Golden State Warriors.
The Mavs entered Tuesday’s Game 4 facing elimination but rose to the occasion and got the 119-109 win. It was mostly thanks to their superstar Luka Doncic, who finished the contest with 30 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists.
Speaking with reporters after the game, Doncic said that his team believes they can turn things around despite facing a massive challenge.
“I mean, I still believe we can win, you know,” Doncic said. “Swept or not swept, in the end, if you lose, you lose. Don’t matter how many we win. We have to go game by game. We’re going to believe until the end.”
Getting another lease on life is nothing new for the Mavericks. They were written off after failing 0-2 to the favored Phoenix Suns in the second round, and no one gave them a chance to get back from 2-3 in the same series. However, Dallas proved everyone wrong both times, and you can’t blame them for thinking they can do it once again.
Although the comeback from 0-3 never happened, some teams did get close. In the 1951 NBA Finals, the New York Knicks evened the series 3-3 against the Rochester Royals (present-day Sacramento Kings), only to lose in Game 7. The same thing happened to the Denver Nuggets in 1994’s second round against the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers against the Mavericks in the first round of the 2003 playoffs.
