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The biggest comeback in NBA history was done by the Utah Jazz, who came back from 36 points down to win on November 27th, 1996.
The Sacramento Kings have the second largest comeback, coming back from 35 down to win 102-98 against the Chicago Bulls. This happened recently, on December 22nd, 2009.
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Steve
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ProfessorThe answer is not an easy one because two teams can make a claim on this feat.
If by "largest comeback," you mean biggest point turnaround, then that would be Kentucky's win over Louisiana State University (LSU) on February 15, 1994. Down 68-37 (31 points) with 15:34 to go, Kentucky (UK) outscored LSU by 35 points to win 99-95 in regulation. That's an outscoring pace of 2.25 points per minute. Granted, UK needed just 96 points to secure a win, which translates to 32 points, but the fact is the total turnaround was 35 points.
The NCAA credits Duke with the greatest "deficit overcome to win a game" for its December 30, 1950 victory over Tulane, which led Duke 54-22 (32 points) with 2:00 remaining in the first half. Duke won 74-72, thus achieving a 34-point turnaround-- one point less than UK's.
(Duke's outscoring pace was 1.55 points per minute.) Duke could have won with only 73 points, of course, which would have been just a 33-point turnaround, but the full turnaround at the buzzer was 34 points.
So Duke's outscoring turnaround needed to be 33 points, and it managed 34. Kentucky's outscoring turnaround needed to be 32 points, but it achieved 35. Because Duke was down by more points, its win might be "the largest comeback." For a direct comparison, consider that UK achieved its feat in 15:34 while Duke was still down by 31 points (the UK deficit) at the 19:00 mark, meaning that it took Duke 3:26 longer to overcome the same deficit, still outscoring its opponent by only 34 more points during that time. On the other hand, 3-pointers were not part of the game when Duke accomplished its feat.
The Boston Celtics came from 24 points down against the New Jersey Nets in Game 3 of the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics then repeated their effort in Game 4 of the 2008 Finals.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The best comeback was when the cavs came back from A 3-1 DEFICIT against the Golden State Warriors. it was a good series but the better team had to come up top. the warriors put up no type of effort.
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