Your bag is empty.
The 3-1 comeback is growing more and more common, as both the Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons just pulled it off. It’s rarer the later in the playoffs you go, but it’s still a pretty uncommon result, even in the first round. Yet, two teams just completed that historic feat with stunning, for different reasons, results.
Pistons trounce Magic to complete comeback
The Detroit Pistons were dead in the water. They were down 22 at halftime in Game 6 while trailing 3-2 in the series. They quickly got down by 24, and then something changed. Detroit locked all the way in, but the Orlando Magic also collapsed in embarrassing fashion.
The Pistons went on to comfortably win that contest by 14 points. They allowed 19 second-half points. Orlando shot an astonishing 4/37 from the field in the final two quarters. They went a real-time hour between made baskets at one point.
That kind of collapse at home is impossible to stomach, and the Magic could not. They were then beaten by 22 in Game 7, never feeling really threatened by the once-upstart Magic as they completed their second 3-1 comeback, mirroring the 2003 instance over the Magic.
Cade Cunningham opens up on comeback
Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he never doubted that they were going to win the series, even when they trailed by 22 at halftime in Game 6. The Magic, shortly after that break, had over a 95% chance to win the game and the series. Detroit, thanks in no small part to Cade Cunningham, chipped away and made good on Bickerstaff’s feeling.
“Credit to (Orlando), they pushed us,” Cunningham said. “They really made us take a look in the mirror. I think we got a lot better from this series. I got a lot better. I learned a lot about myself, learned a lot about the team. So, I think this series really is going to set us up for our next series, and we’ll be a lot better for it.”
76ers lean on Joel Embiid for historic comeback
In the Joel Embiid era, the star big man for the Philadelphia 76ers had never won a Game 7. Now, he has. After returning from appendicitis midway through the series, he helped engineer another 3-1 comeback. In Game 7, the Boston Celtics had no answer for him in the frontcourt.
The Celtics tried an experimental lineup in Game 7 with Jayson Tatum out. His calf flared up in the series, and though the Celtics proved to be a title contender in the regular season with his sooner-than-expected return, they wilted without him. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White tried to carry the load again, but they couldn’t.
Brown had 33 points. Boston had many chances to make a comeback very late in this one, but their shooting woes just would not leave them. They went 13 of 49 on three-pointers in Game 7, and they missed several open shots in the clutch that could’ve turned the tide.
Jaylen Brown blames referees
Jaylen Brown was on Twitch after the series, and he did not mince words. He called out Joel Embiid for flopping to draw fouls, something he has been criticized about before. He also called out the refs, plainly stating that they wanted the 76ers to advance because they called so many offensive fouls against the Celtics.
“Every good basketball player does this. What are y’all talking about? They clearly had an agenda,” Brown said. “If Jaylen does this move, call the offensive foul and follow him every time. I don’t know if it’s because I p****d the refs off. I’ve been critical about them, and I called them out a bunch of times. So, they were like, ‘You know what, I got you in the playoffs. Watch this.’ That’s exactly what they did.”
Brown had 10 offensive fouls called in seven games, which is twice as many as the next player in the first round. “It’s clearly an agenda. Look at the same move. Some referees that if I had to choose, if I had to, like, say there’s some referees that need to be investigated. We had three of them in the last three games.”
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