CLEVELAND - The No. 1 curiosity right now going into Game 5 of this first-round playoff matchup between the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers is how many times in the NBA a team has overcome a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series.
Well, it’s happened 27 times out of 342 such occurrences, per Land of Basketball. Including the Magic-Cavs series, there are four series currently going on that started 2-0.
Just in the last three seasons alone, six times a team overcame a 2-0 series deficit. Last year, the Golden State Warriors eliminated the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the postseason after going down 0-2. In 2022, the Dallas Mavericks did the same against the Phoenix Suns in the conference semifinals.
Of those 27 total times, five were such where the team that won the series lost the first two games at home. Most recently that happened in 2021 when the Clippers lost the first two games in L.A. to the Mavs before claiming the series in seven games.
Also, 14 times the series ended in six games and 13 times it ended in seven – so just about a 50/50 split. The Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021 NBA Finals against the Suns were the last team to win a series in six games after trailing 0-2.
Best-of-five series existed prior to the 2003 season. If you include those, there have been 33 series victories by teams that fell behind 0-2.
All four games of this current Magic-Cavs series have been decided by at least 10 points. By winning Game 3 by 38, the third-largest margin of victory in Orlando postseason history, and Game 4 by 23, the Magic became the first NBA team ever to win Games 3 and 4 by a combined 60-plus points after trailing the series 0-2.
In the second half of Game 4, Orlando held Cleveland to 29 points, tied for the fewest allowed after halftime in Magic playoff history.
Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner have already done something this series that hadn’t been done by a Magic pair since the mid-90s. With Banchero scoring 31 in Game 3 and Wagner scoring 34 in Game 4, they became the first Magic duo since Penny Hardaway and Shaquille O’Neal in 1996 to each have 30-plus points in consecutive postseason games.