“History in the Making: Celtics Force Game 7 After Starting 0-3 in Eastern Conference Finals”

Derrick White and the Celtics made history in Miami. Because after starting the series 0-3, losing two home games and the third in Florida, they have turned it around and forced a seventh game to decide who will go to the NBA finals. Denver hopes that he must have been very patient and that he will be able to calmly enjoy something historical. And it is that only three times until this season, a team had managed to extend a series to seven after starting it with three defeats. And most importantly, never in the history of the NBA has it been possible to come back and end up winning the series: 151-0.

The first time was in the 1951 finals, when the Knicks managed to win three in a row to come back from 0-3 down. They forced the seventh, but it was played in Rochester and the Royals got the first (and only) ring in their history. It is the only time it has happened in a final. The Knicks were ahead with 2:30 to play, but Bob Davies turned the game around and New York was never in control again. They not only lost that ring, but also in 1952 and 53, against the Minneapolis Lakers. They did not return to the finals until 1970, although in the decade they finally got their first NBA ring with Willis Reed.

The other two are more recent and not as dramatic. In 1994 the Nuggets, who finished eighth in the regular season, began the series by losing the first three games against Utah in the Western semifinals. They had just eliminated Seattle, being the first eighth to reach the second round, after coming back from 0-2 against, and they repeated the feat against the Jazz. All three victories came by one point, in double overtime and by three points, but in the seventh, in Salt Lake City, Karl Malone passed sentence. 31 points, 14 rebounds and a 91-81 win. It was still not possible to come back from 0-3 and win the series.

The last to try, the Blazers. In 2003 the NBA expanded the first round to the best of seven and it was a hit from day one. Known as the Portland ‘Jail’ Blazers, the Oregon franchise managed to force a seventh against Dallas after losing the first three. They had lost 10 consecutive playoff series, and the 11th was aimed at a sweep, but the inclusion of Zach Randolph in the starting lineup changed the tie. The seventh was in Dallas and despite the fact that Portland came to win 73-71 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, a 36-22 run for the Mavs led by Dirk Nowitzki and Nick Van Exel was finally able to close the series.

The Knicks, Nuggets and Blazers have in common that they played the final game as visitors, unlike Boston, which will do so at home. The Celtics have a 27-9 record in history, the team with the most games (36) and wins, and at home it is even better: 22-5. The Heat are 6-5 and 0-2 on the road in franchise history. It will also be the first time that two teams meet again in a seventh in the conference finals since the Celtics and Sixers did it in 1981 and 1982. Boston has also become the first team to play a seventh in the semifinals and conference finals in consecutive years. And they are more than ready.

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is 4-3 in Game 7, with his last loss coming just over a year ago against Boston. On the contrary, Joe Mazzulla has only coached in a seventh, in the last semifinals against Philadelphia and the Celtics had no problem winning. Mainly because Jayson Tatum had 51 points. Tatum is 5-1 in final games (3-1 at home) and his only loss came against LeBron James in 2018. And the fact is that the core of the Celtics has played enough seventh games already: Jaylen and Smart are 6-1 and have won four in a row. In the early hours of Monday to Tuesday they will be able to make history in another seventh, perhaps the most important of their careers.

A precedent in Boston

The Celtics know they are facing an impossible task in the NBA. Something that no one has achieved in the history of the competition. However, the Greens prefer to look the other way and cling to a precedent that invites optimism in the city of Boston. In 2004 the Red Sox lost 3-0 in the AFC final against the New York Yankees. Everything seemed doomed. However, the Massachusetts franchise was able to turn it around in a seventh game to decide the conference champion. The Red Sox reached the grand final and there they beat the Cardinals to win the World Series 86 years later.

Sports journalist covering the NBA from Toronto. Leaving from Barcelona, ​​he has lived in Boston, Sydney and Bogotá before staying in Canada to bring the best league on the planet to

basketball. All NBA, a bit of basketball, because he grew up with Tracy McGrady and Pau Gasol, but also with Sarunas Jasikevicius and Arvydas Macijauskas. He studied journalism in Barcelona, ​​where he worked in various media and radio stations, and currently also collaborates with Gigantes del Basket and NBA Spain. He was in the NBA finals in which Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Sergio Scariolo got his first ring. If you don’t see him here, he’s probably on Twitter.


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