A Near Miss to a Forgotten Story | Akit1's Blog

<><>Being a fan of extraordinary sports statistics I frequently search for the story people have not heard. In the NHL, MLB, and NBA one of the most impossible things to accomplish is to come back from a 3-0 deficit. Combining the three major professional sports, 261 times a team has been down 3-0. Of those 261 times, only 3 times has a team ever come back to win the series.

<><><>First in 1942 in the Stanley Cup Finals the Toronto Maple Leafs came back against the Detroit Red Wings. Then in 1975 the New York Islanders rebounded against the Pittsburgh Penguins to win the series after trailing by 3 games. (Amazingly, New York would go down 3-0 in the next round against the Flyers. The team would win three straight, but lose Game 7.) Most recently, the Red Sox successfully beat the Yankees four straight in the 2003 ALCS.

<><> 3 out of 261= 1.1% a team rebounds from a 3-0 deficit (that's combining the MLB, NBA, and NHL)

<>Amazingly, never has an NBA team done the impossible, but being an ESPN Sports Almanac fan I remember an interesting stat line I had read.

In 1951, the NBA Championship was played between the Rochester Royals and New York Knicks. The Royals (currently the Kings) went up 3-0, only to have the Knicks storm back and force a Game 7. In Game 7, Rochester would prevail and forever the "almost" accomplishment was buried with time. I was so interested to see just how close the Knicks were to pulling off the impossible.

79-75

4. Four points the Knicks lost Game 7 of the 1951 NBA Finals. That's all that seperated an unknown squad of Knickerbockers from being remembered with the 1942 Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, and 2003 Boston Red Sox.

...and just to think that 1951 title is the only won in the Sacramento Kings' franchise history. They seem fortunate to even have that much...