Basketball is one of the most exciting sports on Earth. A lot of that comes from giant dunks and explosive plays, but a lot of it comes from the game’s high-scoring nature as well. Scores shift often, which opens the door for big wins and, more importantly, exciting comebacks.
The sport has a lot of unpredictability, which means there’s always a chance that the losing team will get back into a game. Though such occurrences are rare, there have been a few unbelievable comebacks throughout NBA history.
Such events have helped build the modern league and show that no matter how far a team is down they always have a chance. Big turnarounds do occur in the NBA, especially when fans have all but given up hope.
There have been many mid-game turnarounds throughout NBA history, but no team has never overcome more of a deficit than the Jazz on November 27th, 1996. Facing off against the Nuggets, they found themselves down a whopping 36 points.
However, rather than throw in the towel, Utah fought back. Led by the trifecta of John Stockton, Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek, the team rallied during the game and closed the gap to eventually eke out a four point win (107-103).
That bounce back is still the largest in the NBA, and one that likely won’t be overcome anytime soon. Not only is it hard to be down that much in a professional league, but rallying a team to fight when losing by such a large amount is incredibly tough as well.
The Jazz’s 36-point comeback is the largest in NBA history. No one has matched that mark, but the Kings came close when facing off against the Bulls on December 21st, 2009 when they found themselves down 35 points at the half.
Not only did the team not give up, they bounced back in a huge way. With Tyreke Evans at the point, Sacramento came back in the third quarter and then outscored the Bulls by 23 in the fourth to complete a massive comeback.
Though Sacramento didn’t have much going for them that season beyond the impressive win, it’s still known as one of the best turnarounds of all time. It also shows that teams should never give up no matter how bad things look.
Like the Kings in 2009, the Clippers also found themselves down by 35 points in a regular season game. Also like the Kings, they erased the massive deficit and ended with a win (116-115).
They managed to pull it off behind Luke Kennard’s end-game heroics, when the sharpshooter scored seven points in the last nine seconds. He also knocked down an improbable four-point play to put the Clippers ahead with just seconds left and seal the dramatic comeback.
That win is particularly unique because Los Angeles didn’t storm back in dramatic fashion. Rather, they steadily chipped away at Washington’s lead. The Clippers only led for 1.9 seconds the entire game, but that’s all they needed to make history.
Most of the time, big comebacks are a team effort. However, every now and then they go through a single player. That was certainly the case for the Lakers’ massive swing against the Dallas Mavericks in 2002, which came on the back of Kobe Bryant.
After going down 30 points in the third quarter, it seemed that Los Angeles didn’t have the tools to rebound. However, Bryant rallied the team around him (as he so often did) and started what would be one of the most impressive comebacks in Lakers’ history.
The guard put up 21 points, including the game-winning basket with 8.4 seconds left, to rally back and turn a sure-loss into a sure win. The victory was yet another example of Kobe’s greatness and a perfect example of why opposing teams could never count him out no matter the score.
While the above comebacks focus on regular season games, big point swings can happen in the postseason as well. There have been quite a few times where a losing team stormed back to shock the leading squad, leading to massive shifts that altered history.
One of the largest happened, not in a single game, but over an entire series. In 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers found themselves down 3-1 in the NBA Finals against the much-favored Golden State Warriors.
Nobody gave them a chance at that point, but the team managed to claw back into the series thanks to the offensive capabilities of both Kyrie Irving and LeBron James. The superstars evened and then won the series in one of the most shocking turnarounds in sports’ history.
To this day, their 3-1 turnaround is considered one of the most impressive titles of all time. Winning any championship against a better squad would have been impressive, but doing it in such dramatic fashion puts them on another level.
Another Finals-deciding comeback occurred during game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals when Boston’s big three (Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen) closed a 24-point gap against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers to complete one of the most improbable wins of all time.
The turn around wasn’t just one of the largest comebacks in postseason history, it also flipped the series and gave Boston hope. That then allowed them to win the championship, which directly led to the rise of super teams and altered the NBA landscape for the next decade.
While not as impactful as the two above examples, it’s also important to mention the Clippers’ 31-point comeback against the Warriors in 2019. Already down 1-0, Los Angeles kept chipping away at the Warriors’ lead until they snuck out a win to even the series 1-1.
Though Golden State would go on to win the series, Lou Williams’ 36-point performance and Montrezl Harrell’s 25-point game are still remembered because they overcame great odds and led the largest postseason comeback in NBA history.
The above comebacks are the largest in NBA history, but there are a few other games worth mentioning. The first is when the Toronto Raptors took on the Dallas Mavericks in 2019. Down by thirty points, Kyle Lowry put the team on his back and brought them all the way back.
The stout point guard didn’t just put on a scoring clinic, he defended extremely well and acted as a menace on both sides of the ball. The game is unique because, where many comebacks occur slowly, the Raptors made up a staggering thirty point gap in the fourth quarter.
That’s one of the largest fourth quarter surges in history. It’s also the biggest comeback in Toronto history, and one that won’t likely be matched anytime soon.
Beyond that, the Bucks also had an incredibly impressive comeback against the Hawks on November 26th, 1977. During that game, the team rallied around Junior Bridgerman’s 24 point effort to overcome a 29-point gap and finish the game strong.
That contest is particularly important when looking at the best NBA comebacks because of when it occurred. Most large NBA comebacks took place over the past few years due to a rise in competition and new rules.
The Bucks’ broke that trend and put together a great comeback during a time where such lead changes didn’t happen. In fact, that night was the largest in league history until the Jazz broke it with their record-setting game in 1996 almost twenty years later.
On the other end of the spectrum, the most recent large comeback occurred on March 17th, 2023 when the Memphis Grizzlies overcame a 29 point hole to beat the San Antonio Spurs and complete the largest comeback in franchise history.
They put together the effort behind Jaren Jackson Jr., who scored 28 points in a fierce overtime victory. It’s the largest lead change in recent history, and shows how much more common it is for losing teams to fight until the bitter end.
In the NBA, it’s never truly over. Though most blowouts end with the leading team winning, the existence of big comebacks or lead changes mean that there’s always a chance for something unique or exciting to happen.
Big comebacks are baked into the league’s history, occurring as far back as 1977 and as recently as 2023. Though the largest turnarounds have stood for many years, teams can evaporate 20-plus point deficits in a variety of ways. That volatility is one of the reasons the NBA is so fun to watch.
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