Here's a list of teams in NBA history that have come back to win a playoff series after falling to an 0-3 deficit:
That's not a typo. It's never been done, and at this rate, it's not happening any time soon.
Only the 2004 Boston Red Sox, the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1975 New York Islanders, the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings have ever overcome such a daunting deficit.
The 2020 Brooklyn Nets are not of that ilk.
The Nets fell to an 0-3 deficit in their first round matchup against the Toronto Raptors on Friday. The defending NBA champions came out swinging, ran up a 15-point first-half lead, extended that lead to 31 in the second half and ultimately came away with a 117-92 victory.
This series is all but over.
"That's the great challenge, and I hope our group accepts that challenge. This is an unprecedented time," said Nets interim coach Jacque Vaughn. "We can embrace this time, and you never know what happens if you win one game."
Game 4 is a mere formality. Joe Harris, who left the team and the Orlando bubble to tend to a personal family matter, is not walking through that door. Neither are Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, Wilson Chandler or rookie Nic Claxton.
The Nets, in truth, never stood a chance. They were doomed from the start, tasked with taking on the league's best defense _ by a wide margin _ without seven of their eight best players. That includes Harris, who averaged 20 points and shot 54% from three in the seeding games, as well as Jamal Crawford, the veteran sparkplug who played six minutes before a hamstring strain ended his season.
Nets interim coach Jacque Vaughn tried it all. He made adjustments, prioritizing transition defense, ball movement, an uptick in pace and 3-point volume. It worked in the eight seeding games, where the Nets went 5-3. But the rigor with which their opponents competed was debatable. There's no room for laying off in the playoffs.
"I don't think there was anything tactically or schematically that caught us off guard or anything," Vaughn said postgame. "I think they really came out with full force in trying to send a message early. I like the way our guys continued to rally and get back in the ballgame."
There is no adjustment Vaughn could have made for the glaring talent gap between his team and his opponent. The Raptors are better at every position _ including the one Caris LeVert plays.
LeVert is a budding star in this league, but Kyle Lowry is a perennial All-Star. At this rate, Fred VanVleet will soon be one, too. VanVleet lit into the Nets once again, finishing with 22 points, five rebounds, five assists and six made 3s on 10 attempts. One of those 3s came from behind the half-court line with 0.8 seconds left in the first half. The other was a shot from well behind the 3-point line for the game's first basket.
Three different Raptors scored 20 or more: VanVleet, All-Star forward Pascal Siakam, who finished with 26 points, eight rebounds and five assists; and Serge Ibaka, whose 20 points, 13 rebounds and three triples are everything the Nets need at the four spot next to Irving and Durant next season.
"You look at their team, and they have more than a handful of guys who played in the Finals, and there is nothing that can substitute the confidence, the ability to be game-tested, to be up in a game, to be down in a game, vice versa in a series, and know how to handle it," said Vaughn of the Raptors. "The experience factor is one of the best things you can lean on when you've won a championship. So, they have more than a handful of guys who have experienced that."
Brooklyn's brightest star in Game 3 was not LeVert, but rather Tyler Johnson, who started in place of Harris and turned in 23 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3. LeVert ultimately finished with 15 points on 14 shot attempts. The Nets were outscored by 24 in the 34 minutes he played.
The Raptor defense also held Jarrett Allen to no field goal attempts, finishing with just four points all earned at the free throw line. If defense wins championships, Toronto is well on the way to protect its crown.
The Nets' game plan has been the same all series: Limit turnovers, get back in transition, and shoot and make the semi-contested threes that the vaunted Raptor defense allows. Without Harris, Brooklyn's two best shooters are Garrett Temple and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. They combined for 3-of-20 shooting from downtown and 5-of-30 from the field as a whole.
"For us, it was a goal to get up a bunch of 3s. I think we got a lot of clean looks and some guys who've proven they can knock down shots," said Johnson. "Sometimes they just don't fall at the rate that you would like them to maybe keep the defense a little bit more honest. But you know I don't think it had anything to do with effort. Today we played hard and some shots didn't fall."
The Nets as a team attempted 51 3-pointers in Game 3. They only made 16 of them, while the Raptors made 18 on 38 attempts.
That's not good basketball. It's not going to win the Nets games.
In truth, there's no adjustment that can make a difference in this series. With the players at their disposal, the Nets would have been overmatched no matter who they drew in the first round of the playoffs.
The focus will soon shift toward next season, when the stars realign in Brooklyn. Irving, Durant and whichever players and coaches can make a legitimate run for a championship.
Nets GM Sean Marks decreed retaining Joe Harris as priority No. 1 when his free agency arrives this offseason. Other Nets players won't have that luxury.
They'll be shopped around to the highest bidder in search of the perfect pieces to fit in a championship puzzle. If they need inspiration, they should look at the roster makeup of their opponent.
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