On June 12, the Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks’ fourth-quarter comeback attempt to win game 3 of the NBA Finals and take a 3-0 lead in the series. Now is the time for both teams to make history. Here’s what you need to know.
How many sweeps have there been in NBA finals history?
While uncommon, NBA Finals sweeps are not unheard of. Nine 4-0 sweeps have occurred in the NBA Finals since their inception in 1950. The Golden State Warriors were the most recent team to achieve this in 2018.
With players like Steph Curry and Kevin Durant on their roster, the Warriors were able to quickly overwhelm LeBron James’ team and win back-to-back NBA Championships in just four games.
The only previous sweeps in the twenty-first century came from the San Antonio Spurs’ 2007 blowout of the Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2002 three-peat, which ended with a 4-0 demolition of the New Jersey Nets behind Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
The Celtics and Warriors are the only other teams with two NBA Finals sweeps each, provided Boston wins Game 4 on Thursday. In 1959, Boston defeated the Minneapolis Lakers to win the first-ever NBA Finals sweep.
Has any NBA team come back from 3-0 in the Finals?
Not a single team in the 74-year NBA history has won a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-0. The Dallas Mavericks will go down in history as the team that pulled off the greatest NBA Finals comeback if they win the next four games. In series where they are behind 3-0, clubs are 0-156 all-time in the NBA playoffs.
