Maccabi Tel Aviv took a 2-0 lead over Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Basketball Super League final on Thursday, leaving Hapoel needing to win every remaining game in the series, including two possible home games for Maccabi. The article frames the task as highly improbable, noting that in 116 of the 119 series in which a team led 2-0, that team went on to win.
In championship series, only one has ever reached a fifth game, the 1991/92 final between Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv, remembered for Levon Mercer’s punch. Every other final ended in three or four games, and Maccabi Tel Aviv has never lost a championship series.
Since 2000, there have been only three cases in which a team came back from a 2-0 deficit. Maccabi Rishon LeZion did it in 2011/12 against Ashkelon in the first round, then Maccabi Tel Aviv squandered a 2-0 lead against Hapoel Eilat and lost the next three games, including a deciding home game. In 2016/17, Hapoel Jerusalem rallied from two losses to Nahariya, won 3-2, and went on to the title under Jerome Dyson and Lior Eliyahu. In 2012/13, Maccabi Haifa led Hapoel Eilat 2-0, was tied 2-2, won the fifth game in Romema, and later beat Maccabi Tel Aviv to the championship.
The article concludes that only three series out of 119 in the 21st century have seen a team surrender a 2-0 lead, a 97.4% success rate for the front-runner.
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