Where Do Knicks' Back-to-Back Comebacks Rank Among Top NBA Playoff Upsets of All Time?
To say the 2025 NBA playoffs have been surprising would be an understatement. The Eastern Conference was straight chalk heading into the semifinals, but it's been madness since. The West has a No. 6 seed playing a No. 7—just like everyone drew it up, right?
Focusing on those Eastern Conference semifinals, though, we've seen some unprecedented results. In four games thus far, the visiting teams, the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, are undefeated despite facing 20-point deficits three times. Both of the Knicks wins—an overtime contest in Game 1 and one-point thriller in Game 2—came after trailing by as many as 20, including a 16-point, fourth-quarter margin in Game 2.
These kinds of comebacks don't happen every day, folks. And it's got us thinking about the greatest comeback, upset wins in NBA history. We're talking the single-game variety, as series upsets are in an entirely different category.
Here, we'll subjectively rank the 2025 Knicks and Pacers against some of the biggest comebacks among lower-seeded teams in NBA history. Within those parameters, we gave extra emphasis to teams that made their comebacks on the road, and especially those that were clear underdogs at the time the game was played. Series context matters, too, so we'll take that into account.
Before diving into the heroics of underdogs, we'll take a second to give some perspective—though probably not much solace—to the 2025 favorites who had to fall to make this list possible.
Do the Cavaliers or Celtics Have Any Hope of Coming Back?
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Including this year's playoffs, 463 teams have faced 0-2 series deficits in the NBA playoffs according to LandofBasketball.com. Of those teams, only 34 have recovered to win the series (7.3 percent).
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, though, are facing a much steeper mountain to climb. Not only did they cough up large leads to dig themselves into their respective holes, but they also lost Games 1 and 2 at home.
In NBA history, only five teams have lost Games 1 and 2 at home before coming back to win the series.
The top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers were the first to accomplish the feat in 1969 by winning four straight over the San Francisco Warriors after dropping the first two games in L.A. The top-seeded Phoenix Suns did it—albeit in a five-game series—against the Lakers in 1993.
Since then, the only other teams to do so were a pair of No. 4 seeds in the first round (Dallas in 2005; LA Clippers in 2021) and the top-seeded Celtics, who turned the tables on the Chicago Bulls in 2017.
So, it's not impossible that this year's Celtics and/or Cavaliers could get things straightened out and make historic comebacks of their own, but chances are at least one of them—and likely both—will be starting their offseason earlier than expected.
No. 8: Brandon Roy Carries the Blazers to Comeback Win over Mavs (2011)
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Injuries derailed what could have been a stellar career for 2006-07 Rookie of the Year Bandon Roy, but on one electric night in Portland in 2011, the world got to see what Roy was capable of.
With his sixth-seeded Blazers facing a 2-1 series deficit in their first-round series against the Mavericks and trailing 67-49 going into the fourth quarter (yes, that's the real score), Roy went into overdrive to save his team's season. After scoring 18 points in the first three games of the series, Roy scored 18 points in the fourth quarter alone, outscoring the Mavs 18-15 by himself.
Roy scored Portland's final eight points, including a four-point play and the game-winning bucket with 39.2 seconds left, to erase a 23-point deficit and tie the series at two games apiece.
Dallas went on to win the next two games to take the series, but the Brandon Roy Game will forever live on as a legendary moment in Blazers history.
No. 7: Celtics Erase 21-Point 4th Quarter Deficit to Stun Nets (2002)
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The third-seeded Boston Celtics had stolen one on the road from the top-seeded New Jersey Nets in Game 2, and they returned home looking to take advantage of home court and shift the series in their favor.
It didn't look like they were going to accomplish that mission when they entered the fourth quarter trailing 74-53—though at least that margin wasn't as bad as the 26-point deficit they'd faced earlier. However, the stage was set for one of the greatest fourth-quarter comebacks in NBA postseason history.
Led by the duo of Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker, who combined for 51 points on the night, the Celtics aggressively attacked the basket and climbed back into the game. The result was a 41-16 turnaround in the game's final frame, which stunned the Nets and left the Fleet Center in a state of delirium.
Boston couldn't keep its magic going, as it lost each of the next three games. Still, that fourth-quarter comeback became a foundational piece of Pierce's legacy in Beantown.
No. 6: Big Shot Bob Saves the Day (2002)
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Literally one day after Boston's 26-point comeback against New Jersey, the Los Angeles Lakers put together a memorable moment of their own against the Sacramento Kings.
Trailing the series 2-1, the third-seeded Lakers were on the ropes against the top-seeded Kings in the Western Conference Finals. Sacramento entered the game on fire, scoring 40 points in the first quarter and building a 24-point lead before halftime. After bowing out to the Lakers in two successive seasons, it looked like the third time might be the charm for the Kings.
But the Lakers didn't fold, fighting their way back after their abysmal start. Down 99-97 with under 10 seconds to go, Kobe Bryant missed a runner and Shaquille O'Neal's put-back attempt was short. Sacramento center Vlade Divac slapped the ball out of the scrum around the hoop toward the top of the key where, unfortunately for him and the Kings, Lakers forward Robert Horry was standing.
Horry collected the loose ball and quickly fired up a three-pointer that caught nothing but net, sealing the Lakers' comeback and changing the complexion of the series entirely. Instead of Sacramento going home and being able to end the series with a win in Game 5—a game it ultimately did win—the series ended up going the distance with the Lakers winning.
To this day, the series remains one of the most controversial in the league's history because of the scandal involving referee Tim Donaghy, but who knows how much of that controversy would have even happened were it not for L.A.'s massive Game 4 comeback and Horry's clutch shot?
No. 5: Tyrese Haliburton Hits the Step-Back Winner to Stun Cleveland (2025)
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We've reached the point in the rankings where we're dealing with teams that were undeniably underdogs at the time the game was played and were playing on the road (the prior three teams on this list were all playing at home).
Even playing without All-Stars Darius Garland and Evan Mobley as well as standout sixth-man De'Andre Hunter, the top-seeded Cavaliers were 7.5-point favorites heading into Game 2 at home against the Indiana Pacers after dropping Game 1. Their remaining star, Donovan Mitchell, scored 48 points to help Cleveland build an early 20-point lead, and the Cavs owned a seven-point advantage with just under a minute left.
Which is exactly where the Pacers wanted them, apparently.
After erasing a seven-point deficit in the final 48 seconds of overtime in their first-round series clincher against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pacers did it again—this time with even more flair. All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton missed his own free throw in the final seconds with the Pacers down two and then coolly knocked down a step-back three with 1.1 seconds left to cement the win.
Wheat Hotchkiss of Pacers.com put the latest comeback into context: "Since full play-by-play data has been available starting in the 1996-97 season, just one team had ever come back from seven points down in the final 48 seconds of a playoff game to win prior to last week. The Pacers have now done it twice in the span of eight days."
No. 4: Clippers Grind Their Way Back from 27 Points Down to Shock Grizzlies (2012)
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Lob City vs. Grit and Grind? Yeah, this was bound to be a classic first-round playoff series just based off those nicknames alone.
Game 1, however, didn't seem like it was going to be all that compelling, though. The home, fourth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies raced out to an 18-point, first-quarter lead, and with about two minutes left in the third quarter, the margin had ballooned to 27 points.
Memphis' advantage was still at 24 points as the clock ticked under nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Los Angeles Clippers refused to go quietly. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Co. chipped away with a 28-3 run over those final nine minutes.
Paul sank the go-ahead free throws with under 30 seconds left, and Rudy Gay's attempt at a game-winner fell short as the Clippers scored the historic upset. At that time, their 27-point comeback was the second-largest in NBA history behind the Lakers' 29-point comeback against the Seattle SuperSonics in 1989.
Ultimately, LA's massive comeback turned out to be a perfectly fitting table-setter for a knock-down, drag-out series that went the full seven games and ended with the Clippers advancing.
No. 3: Trae Young Starts Sixers' Unraveling by Leading Massive Comeback (2021)
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"The Process" had led to this moment. The Philadelphia 76ers were 2021's No. 1 seed in the East and were in position to take command of their second-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, leading by as many as 26 thanks to a dominant first half in front of a raucous home crowd.
Philadelphia carried an 18-point advantage into the fourth quarter thanks in large part to the efforts of Joel Embiid (37 points) and Seth Curry (36), but the problem for the Sixers was that those two were their only players to make field goals in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Hawks just kept creeping closer and closer. Lou Williams gave the Hawks life early in the fourth, coming off the bench to score 13 of his 15 points in the final frame.
The margin was still double digits with 4:23 left, leaving Philadelphia with a 97.5 percent chance of victory, but that's when Trae Young really stepped up. Fresh off becoming New York's newest villain in ousting the Knicks in Round 1, Young scored 11 of Atlanta's final 15 points—part of a 36-point outing—to give the Hawks a stunning 3-2 series lead after entering the game as seven-point underdogs.
Philadelphia won Game 6 in Atlanta before fully melting down in Game 7 at home—a contest that featured plenty more of Trae Young but is better remembered for Ben Simmons passing up what looked like a wide-open dunk.
No. 2: Clippers Rally for the Biggest Comeback in NBA Postseason History (2019)
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When Lou Williams helped the Hawks surge back from 26 points down against the 76ers, he was doing so knowing he had triumphed over much greater odds. There aren't many people who can say that.
But two years prior, Williams had been the driving force behind the largest comeback in NBA playoff history when he, as a member of the No. 8 seed Los Angeles Clippers, played a central role in erasing a 31-point deficit against the top-seeded, two-time-defending-champion, two-touchdown-favorite Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the first round.
Golden State stretched its lead to its highest point at the 7:31 mark of the third quarter. That's when Williams, who had come off the bench shortly before that point, started cooking. He scored 17 points in the third quarter alone, helping the Clippers cut the deficit to 14 by the time the fourth quarter began.
Williams, who finished with 36 points, and Montrezel Harrell, who came off the bench for 25 of his own, continued the lead LA's comeback in the fourth, with Williams in particular going shot for shot with the Warriors in crunch time. But in the final seconds, it was rookie Landry Shamet's turn to take the spotlight, as he hit the game-winning three-pointer with 16.5 seconds left to stun the crowd at Oracle Arena.
The Clippers ultimately lost that series in six games. That said, Williams, Harrell and Shamet all made their marks scoring, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander started to show promise as a young star and Patrick Beverly built up his reputation as one of the bigger pests in the NBA with the way he handled himself against Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
No. 1: Knicks Shock the Celtics Not Once, But Twice (2025)
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If you look at either of the New York Knicks' past two games and look at them singularly, neither one of them likely deserves the No. 1 spot on this list.
A gritty comeback from down 20 points in an overtime win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the No. 2-seeded, rival Boston Celtics? That's a heck of a statement game, especially from Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby who had 29 points apiece, and it would have been on this list by itself.
The Celtics entered Game 2 as double-digit favorites, opened on a 7-0 run and led by as many as 20 late in the third quarter—surely there was no way this one was getting away from them. Right?
Well, it did get away from them. Mikal Bridges scored all 14 of his points in the fourth quarter and secured the game-clinching steal in a 91-90 win. He got plenty of help, too, as Brunson hit the go-ahead free throws in a 17-point effort, Josh Hart scored 23 points and Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in 21 points and 17 boards.
Taking those two comebacks in their totality, the Knicks have shocked the NBA in a way that no one has ever seen before. Sure, 20-plus-point comebacks have happened plenty of times as we've outlined—in fact, there have been five in these playoffs alone—but two games in a row by the underdog on the road? That hasn't happened (at least since 1998).
When it comes to shocking NBA playoff upsets, it's hardly recency bias to suggest these two Knicks wins in Boston are the most surprising we've ever seen given the deep holes they've had to find their way out of in each contest.
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