What momentum? Teams that forced Game 7 from 3-1 deficits haven't won title
The Cleveland Cavaliers will try to do something no team has ever done Sunday: They'll try to complete a comeback from 3-1 down in the NBA Finals.
Before the Cavs did so with a Game 6 win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, only two teams had even taken the Finals to a seventh game after falling behind 3-1, and none in the past 50 years.
The impulse, when a team has won two straight games over its opponent, is to assume that team has the momentum, and thus a good shot to keep it rolling. But both the 1951 New York Knicks (who actually trailed 3-0) and the 1966 Los Angeles Lakers wound up running out of steam in their Game 7s, though neither of those teams had LeBron James.
Here's how those Knicks and Lakers fared.
1951 Finals, Game 7: Rochester Royals 79, New York Knicks 75
In just the fifth NBA season, the Knicks made their first Finals appearance, but seemed drastically overmatched by their fresher, more talented in-state rival.
The Knicks had needed a huge fourth-quarter comeback to knock off the Syracuse Nationals in the deciding fifth game a round prior, while the Royals had handled the league-best Minneapolis Lakers with comparative ease. The result was the Royals winning the first three games by an average margin of 16.3 points, behind the devastating twin-Arnie tandem of center Arnie Risen and small forward Arnie Johnson.
The Knicks responded by reeling off three straight close wins - thanks to some timely scoring outbursts from guard Max Zaslofsky - to force the first Game 7 in NBA Finals history.
Like the Cavs, they had to play that Game 7 on the road, and though they hung tough until the final whistle, they ultimately came up short. Point guard Bob Davies broke a 75-75 tie in the final minute with two clutch free throws, which proved to be the game-winners.
The Royals franchise has yet to win a championship since, having moved to Cincinnati, Kansas City-Omaha, just Kansas City, and finally Sacramento, where they've settled as the Kings.
Fun fact: Red Holzman, the backup point guard on that Royals team, would go on to lead the Knicks to their only two titles as a coach in 1970 and '73.
1966 Finals, Game 7: Boston Celtics 95, Los Angeles Lakers 93
The Lakers, who'd yet to win a title since relocating to Hollywood from Minneapolis seven seasons prior, were trying to avoid losing their fourth Finals to the Celtics in five years.
They nearly didn't get a shot, almost blowing their own 3-1 series lead against the St. Louis Hawks in the Western Division Finals. But they survived the Hawks in Game 7, then rode that wave of momentum to a Game 1 win over the Celtics.
The Celtics promptly rebounded with three straight decisive victories to put the Lakers back in familiar territory: On the ropes. Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and company did not go gently into that good night. They stole Game 5 in Boston, and weathered a spirited Celtics comeback to hold for a Game 6 win at home. Like the Knicks before them, they'd need to complete the comeback on the road.
The Lakers looked worn out and sluggish early on. Behind Sam Jones, John Havlicek, and the unstoppable two-way play of Bill Russell, the Celtics raced out to an early lead, and by halftime they'd stretched it to 15. They led by 16 after three, and looked well on their way to an eighth (!) straight title.
Again, the Lakers refused to lie down. West was transcendent, making up for a miserable showing from Baylor by scoring a game-high 36 points.
Alas, it wasn't enough. The Lakers had dug themselves too deep a hole, and the Celtics hung on for a two-point win that extended their still-unmatched consecutive-championship record in coach Red Auerbach's final season.
Fun fact: Though they'd have their streak broken by Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia 76ers the following season, the Celtics would go on to win consecutive titles in 1968 and '69 - both over the Lakers - before Bill Russell (who served as player-coach after Auerbach's departure) retired both posts.