In the 76-year history of the NBA Finals, there have been 40 previous series that have started 1-1. Of those 40, the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the series 80% of the time (32 of 40). Of the teams that have lost Game 3 yet rebounded to win the title, half have come in the last 12 years, but only two were the lower overall seed. That includes last year’s champ, Golden State. A look those eight:

Year Game 3 result (Conf. seed) Game 3 location Series winner

2022 (2) Boston beat (3) Golden State, 116-100 San Francisco Golden State, 4-2

Steph Curry scored 93 points over the last three games as the Warriors clinched at home with 103-90 win in Game 6.

2015 (2) Cleveland beat (1) Golden State, 96-91 Cleveland Golden State, 4-2

LeBron James’ monster series (35.8 ppg, 13.3 rpg, 8.8 apg) for Cavs not enough to deny Splash Brothers’ first title.

2013 (2) San Antonio beat (1) Miami, 113-77 San Antonio Miami, 4-3

Spurs were seconds away from a title in Game 6 only for Ray Allen’s dagger corner 3 to spoil those plans.

2011 (2) Miami beat (3) Dallas, 88-86 Dallas Dallas, 4-2

LeBron James melted down in his first Finals with Heatles, and Dirk Nowitzki (26.0 ppg, 9.7 rpg) took over.

1984 (1) L.A. Lakers beat (1) Boston, 137-104 Los Angeles Boston, 4-3

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson’s first Finals clash. Mistakes from “Tragic” cost L.A. multiples times in crunch time.

1978 (4) Seattle beat (3) Washington, 93-92 Washington Washington, 4-3

First of back-to-back SuperSonics-Bullets Finals meetings ended with Washington winning Game 7 in Pac Northwest.

1962 (1) L.A. Lakers beat (1) Boston, 117-115 Los Angeles Boston, 4-3

First of five Finals losses for Jerry West against the Celtics. Lakers’ Elgin Baylor averaged 40.6 ppg (!) in losing effort.

1957 (1) St. Louis beat (1) Boston, 100-98 St. Louis Boston, 4-3

Celtics’ first NBA title did not come easy vs. Bob Pettit and Co. Bill Russell finished with 11 by the time he retired.

Source: basketball-reference.com