NBA
Had Lebron James ever been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs?
The LA Lakers failed to complete a historic series comeback and were knocked out by the Denver Nuggets.
LeBron James suffered a rare first round elimination in the NBA playoffs. The LA Lakers avoided being swept with a hard-fought 119-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday but were narrowly beaten 108-106 in Colorado on Monday, losing the series 4-1.
The 39-year-old starred for the Lakers in Games 4 and 5, scoring 30 points on each occasion and providing 15 assists for teammates across the two match-ups. However, it wasn’t enough to stop Los Angeles from falling at the first hurdle.
During his 21-year professional career LeBron James has only suffered two first round eliminations. The only other one came in 2020/21 when the Lakers lost in six against the Phoenix Suns, losing their crown as NBA champions.
Has any team progressed from a 3-0 series deficit?
LeBron James has achieved almost everything in his stellar career but even he has not managed to reverse a 3-0 series deficit in the NBA playoffs. In fact, no team has ever progressed after losing the first three games of a series.
In the history of NBA best-of-seven series there have been 153 instances of teams taking a 3-0 lead. On four occasions the losing team managed win the subsequent three matches to force a Game 7, but they never managed to progress.
“We’ve given ourselves another lifeline, and it’s a one-game series for us,” LeBron James said after the win at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night. “Monday’s game is the most important game of the season for us, and we understand that.” Unfortunately for the Lakers, their quest to make history was unsuccessful.