After two frustrating games on the road, the Los Angeles Lakers are down 0-2 in the Western Conference Finals to the Denver Nuggets. Both games were winnable but because of bad coaching decisions and bad play from the star players, LA was unable to steal a game from Denver.
The silver lining is that the series will go to Los Angeles, where the Lakers are unbeaten in this postseason run, for the next two games. However, even if the Lakers win both games, the series becomes a best-of-three with two games in Denver.
It is a daunting task to come back from an 0-2 deficit and while it is not as daunting as overcoming a 1-3 deficit, it still does not happen very often. Unfortunately, it has happened very few times in Lakers history.
How many times have the Lakers overcome a 0-2 deficit in the NBA Playoffs?
The Lakers have fallen behind 0-2 in a seven-game playoff series 21 times in franchise history. In those 21 instances, the Lakers have only been able to come back twice — in 2004 against the San Antonio Spurs and in 1969 against the San Francisco Warriors.
Los Angeles came back against San Antonio in the Western Conference semi-finals by winning the next four games of that series. Just like this year’s Western Conference Finals, the Lakers did not have home-court advantage despite being the higher playoff seed.
The Spurs had the better record (thus getting home court) but were a lower seed because they finished second in their division to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
This series also featured the infamous 0.4-second shot by Derek Fisher. With the Lakers down one, Fisher was able to make a hot-potato turnaround jumper to give LA a 3-2 lead in the series. Without those heroics, LA may not have won the series.
The 1969 Western Conference semi-finals were similar. The purple and gold fell behind 0-2 and won the next four games to take the series. That series didn’t have any last-second heroics and did feature the Lakers having home-court advantage. LA won the next four games by an average of 19.25 points.
Unfortunately, the Lake Show was unable to win a championship in either of these seasons despite coming back from an 0-2 deficit. LA lost to the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals in 2004 and the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals in 1969.
The Lake Show has failed to overcome its last five 0-2 deficits in 2013, 2012, 2011, 2008 and 2007.