Cavaliers Face Daunting NBA History After Losing Game 2 to Pacers

The Cleveland Cavaliers have to pull off something that's been done just a handful of times if they hope to advance past the Indiana Pacers and onto the Eastern Conference Finals

May 6, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) reacts in the fourth quarter during game two of the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs against the Indiana Pacers at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images | David Richard-Imagn Images

History is not on the Cleveland Cavaliers side right now.

Trailing 2-0 in their best-of-seven, second-round matchup with the Indiana Pacers, Cleveland finds itself in a precarious spot by dropping each of the first two games of the series at home. Now, as the series shifts to Indianapolis, the Cavaliers have to win four of the last five games if they hope to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.

Only five teams in NBA history have ever pulled off that feat.

The first one to ever do it was the 1969 Los Angeles Lakers, who fell behind the San Francisco Warriors (at the time) 0-2 in the first round of the playoffs, before rattling off four straight wins to take the series.

The comeback helped fuel a run to the NBA finals for LA, before the franchise lost to its most hated rival, the Boston Celtics in seven games.

You have to fast forward nearly 25 years to find the next team to pull off the improbable feat in the 1992-93 Phoenix Suns. In 1984, the NBA expanded the playoff field to 16 teams, creating a best-of-five first-round series.

The Suns found themselves down 0-2 to the Lakers in that opening series after two losses at home, then rallied to sweep the next three games and advance to the conference semifinals. Like the 68 Lakers before them, Phoenix also made a run to the NBA Finals after the historic comeback, where they lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

One year later, those Suns had the script flipped on them after winning the first two games of the conference semifinals on the road in Houston, only to have the Rockets win four of the last five, including a Game 7 at home to take the series.

Yet again, the magical comeback ended with the trip to the NBA Finals, with Houston actually finishing the job in a 4-3 series win over Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks.

The 2004-05 Dallas Mavericks were the fourth team to win a series after dropping the first two games at home. Their resurgence came in the first round, as they fell behind the Rockets, won three straight, then eventually took the series on their home floor in Game 7. Dallas went on to lose in the conference semifinals.

The next instance didn't come until 12 years later via the 2016-17 Boston Celtics, who dropped the first two games of a first-round series with the Bulls at home, then promptly disposed of Chicago by winning the next four.

That season came to an end for Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals at the hands of LeBron James in what was his final year in Cleveland.

Finally, the 2020-21 Los Angeles Clippers became the sixth and most recent team to rally after losing the first two games of a series at home. Their comeback also came in the first round against the Mavericks, as Los Angeles won just one game at home in the series, a decisive Game 7. Their run eventually came to an end in the conference finals.

Cavaliers fans looking for more reasons for hope can also turn to each of the last two seasons to find examples of teams at least bouncing back from home losses in Games 1 and 2 of a series.

During the 2023 playoffs, the Celtics actually dropped the first three games of their Eastern Conference Finals matchup with the Miami Heat, including the first two at home, only to respond with three straight wins to force a game seven on their home floor.

Miami punctuated the series with a 103-84 blowout win to advance on to the NBA Finals, slamming the door on what would have been the NBA's first-ever team to come back from down 0-3 in a series.

Then there's last year, when the defending champion Denver Nuggets dropped their first two games of a conference semifinal matchup with the Timberwolves at home, then rattled off three straight wins to take control of the series. Their comeback effort also fell short, however, with Minnesota taking Games 6 and 7 to advance.

Now the Cavaliers will look to become the seventh team to pull off one of the NBA's most difficult postseason feats, after dropping two games at home against the Pacers.

Cleveland has been a resilient group all year, en route to 64 wins during the regular season. They are certainly built to overcome a damning deficit like this, but a lot does hinge on the health of three key players Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and De'Andre Hunter.

There's reason to believe the Cavaliers can do it. Will they, though? Time will tell.