# playoffs: anyone come back from 3-0?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playoffs-anyone-come-back-from-3-0/178683>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 31, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playoffs-anyone-come-back-from-3-0/178683 "2003-05-31T01:28:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playoffs-anyone-come-back-from-3-0/178683/1 "2003-05-31T01:28:39Z")

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In best-of-seven series, be it basketball, hockey, or baseball, has a team ever come from a 3-0 deficit to win the series 4-3?

Any playoffs series, not necessarily the championships.

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**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playoffs-anyone-come-back-from-3-0/178683/2 "2003-05-31T02:09:07Z")

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Not in the NBA. I can’t speak for the other sports.

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playoffs-anyone-come-back-from-3-0/178683/3 "2003-05-31T03:45:35Z")

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[http://www.whowins.com/features/comeback.html](http://www.whowins.com/features/comeback.html)

Yikes, some people have a lot of time on their hands.

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**Author:** ![Back\_Lot\_Brawl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Back\_Lot\_Brawl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Back_Lot_Brawl)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playoffs-anyone-come-back-from-3-0/178683/4 "2003-05-31T05:06:40Z")

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As that site says, the only time it’s happened in North American professional sports is in the NHL, last in 1975. In Japanese baseball, the Yomiuri Giants came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the Japan Series sometime in the '80s, against the Kintetsu Buffaloes, I believe.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playoffs-anyone-come-back-from-3-0/178683/5 "2003-05-31T05:13:35Z")

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It’s never happened in basketball or baseball. Twice in hockey. The site above mentions the two hockey teams - 1975 Islanders and 1942 Maple Leafs. There is one correction, though: in the NBA this year, the Blazers trailed the Mavericks 3-0 in the opening round and managed to push the series to 7 games, making them the third team to do so in the sport.

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**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2003, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playoffs-anyone-come-back-from-3-0/178683/6 "2003-05-31T05:49:52Z")

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NHL= The 1975 New York Islanders came back from a 3-0 defecit to win the next 4 straight against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Prior to that, the Toronto Maple Leafs did it in the 40s or something…