INDIANAPOLIS — The Knicks are facing a daunting obstacle, to be sure, but not an insurmountable one.
Tom Thibodeau’s squad secured two consecutive victories in Boston to open the last playoff round, but now they face a similar predicament, having lost the initial two games at the Garden to the pace-driven Pacers.
The Celtics were unable to become the sixth team in NBA history to overturn such a deficit in a seven-game series, so the Knicks now have the daunting challenge of winning four of the next five games — starting with Game 3 on Sunday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse — to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
Overall, 34 teams in league annals have overcome any 0-2 deficit to win a playoff series.
This feat has never been achieved in a conference final, but let’s examine the only five instances where a team has dropped the first two games at home yet managed to come back and win a best-of-seven series.
(Note: The Suns also overcame an 0-2 hole in a five-game set against the Lakers in 1993).
1969 Lakers vs. Warriors
Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain rallied their team to take four straight games in the first-round Western Conference semifinals, including three in San Francisco, after losing the first two in L.A., including a 40-point blowout on the road in Game 6.
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The Lakers fell short in the NBA Finals again that year to Bill Russell and the Celtics — for the sixth time in eight seasons — although West became the only player in league history to win Finals MVP on the losing team.
1994 Rockets vs. Suns
One year after Charles Barkley and the Suns had pulled off a five-game series comeback against the Lakers after losing the first two in Phoenix, they dropped four of the final five to Hakeem Olajuwon and the eventual champion Rockets in the second round after opening the series with two wins in Houston.
With Michael Jordan giving baseball a try, the Rockets won their first of back-to-back titles that year in seven games over the Knicks.
2005 Mavericks vs. Rockets
More than a decade later, the Yao Ming/Tracy McGrady Rockets — coached by Jeff Van Gundy — were on the other side of that scenario after taking the first two games in Dallas.
Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs grabbed wins in the next two games in Houston before eventually closing out the first-round series — which was expanded to seven games in 2003 — at home with a 116-76 romp in Game 7 behind 31 points from Jason Terry.
2017 Celtics vs. Bulls
Tom Thibodeau was in his first season coaching the Timberwolves after spending five seasons at the helm in Chicago, but predecessor Fred Hoiberg’s squad flushed the 2-0 lead it seized in Boston in the opening round.
Led by leading scorer Isaiah Thomas, the Celtics won three times in Chicago and four straight games overall under coach Brad Stevens before falling short against LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the East final.
2021 Clippers vs. Mavericks
The road teams actually won each of the first six games of this first-round clash before the Clippers pulled out Game 7 at Staples Center behind the All-Stars tandem of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
That year marked the closest the Clips ever have gotten to the NBA Finals, losing the West title to Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Cam Payne and the Suns in six games.
