The year of the NBA playoff comeback continues. A look at how these 20-point rallies keep happening
New York down by 20 on Monday. Indiana down by 20 on Tuesday. New York down by 20 again Wednesday.
No problem.
For the first time since play-by-play began being digitally tracked across the NBA about 30 years ago, there have been three consecutive days where the winning team in a playoff game came from at least 20 points down to win.
The Knicks did it in Boston on Monday, the Pacers did it in Cleveland on Tuesday and the Knicks did it again on the Celtics' home floor Wednesday. Add in a pair of similar rallies – a 29-pointer by Oklahoma City and another 20-pointer by Indiana – in Round 1, and that pushes the total of 20-point comebacks so far this postseason to five.
That's the most of any postseason in the digital play-by-play era, which goes back to 1997.
A look at how the comebacks happened:
April 24: OKC trails by 29, wins
The big lead: Memphis 69, Oklahoma City 40, 3:07 left first half
The final score: Oklahoma City 114, Memphis 108
How it happened: Memphis's undoing started when star guard Ja Morant got hurt and left the game on the possession where the Grizzlies took the 29-point lead. The Thunder outscored the Grizzlies 74-39 the rest of the way, with Chet Holmgren scoring 23 points for Oklahoma City in that span. Memphis missed 30 of its final 41 shots.
April 29: Indiana trails by 20, wins
The big lead: Milwaukee 33, Indiana 13, 11:26 left first half
The final score: Indiana 119, Milwaukee 118, OT
How it happened: The Pacers got the lead down to six by halftime, then the final 29 minutes were largely back and forth. The Bucks led by seven with 40 seconds left in overtime, before Indiana ended the game on an 8-0 run and won it on Tyrese Haliburton's layup with 1.4 seconds remaining.
Monday: New York trails by 20, wins
The big lead: Boston 75, New York 55, 5:47 left third quarter
The final score: New York 108, Boston 105, OT
How it happened: The Celtics went up 20, then shot 23 per cent the rest of the way (9 for 39) and relied almost entirely on the three-point shot (6 for 28) over those 23 minutes. OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson combined to outscore Boston 39-30 by themselves over that finishing stretch, and neither team scored in the final 1:16 of overtime.
Tuesday: Indiana trails by 20, wins
The big lead: Cleveland 81, Indiana 61, 6:51 left third quarter
The final score: Indiana 120, Cleveland 119
How it happened: Over the game's final 40 minutes, Indiana led for 0.00046 per cent of the time – and won the game. The Pacers outscored Cleveland 59-38 over the final 18:51, Tyrese Haliburton's three-pointer with 1.1 seconds left capping an 8-0 burst in the final minute and giving Indiana a 2-0 series lead.
Wednesday: New York trails by 20, wins
The big lead: Boston 73, New York 53, 2:19 left third quarter
The final score: New York 91, Boston 90
How it happened: The Knicks outscored the Celtics 38-17 in the final 14:19 of the game, as Boston – just like in Game 1 – built a big lead and then couldn't hit a shot. The Celtics were 5 for 25 from the field in that stretch, 2 for 12 from three-point range. Boston's starters were a combined 2 for 19 down the stretch, while New York shot 15 for 28 and got 14 points from Mikal Bridges over those minutes. Jayson Tatum couldn't get a good look on the last play, and the Knicks took a 2-0 series lead.
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