Which game went into the most overtimes in NBA Playoffs history?

The 2021 NBA playoffs tip off later today, with the Milwaukee Bucks taking on 6th seed Miami Heat. The playoffs have seen many huge upsets in recent years.

Some of these major surprises include Kawhi Leonard’s Toronto Raptors winning the championship in 2019, and the Miami Heat engineering a fairytale run all the way to the championship finals last year where they lost to LeBron James’ LA Lakers.

With the stakes very high, a number of matches end up going all the way down to the wire in the playoffs. The 2021 NBA play-in tournament has already seen the Golden State Warriors getting knocked out after suffering defeats to the defending champions and then the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday.

In this article, we look at the matches that have seen the most overtimes in the history of the NBA playoffs.

The first round of the 2021 #NBAPlayoffs gets underway with four games on the schedule for Saturday beginning this afternoon. Here is a look at the current lines for today's #NBA games. pic.twitter.com/2Mhd1q3vmq

— TSN EDGE (@TSN_Edge) May 22, 2021

---

NBA games that had the most overtimes in Playoffs history

2 NBA matches have seen a total of 4 overtimes in the league’s history. This includes game 3 of the Western Conference semifinal between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets in the 2018-19 season, and game 2 of the Eastern Division semifinals between the Boston Celtics and the Syracuse Nationals back in the 1952-53 season.

Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets

In game 3 of the 2018-19 Western Conference semifinals, CJ McCollum ended up producing his highest ever 41 points in a playoff game. The Nuggets were led by their young stars Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, but ended up losing 140-137.

The match was closely contested with the Portland Trail Blazers helping themselves to a 5-point lead towards the end of the third quarter. However, Will Barton produced 10 points in the fourth as Jokic helped himself to 7 points and 4 assists, as the Denver Nuggets forced the game into overtime.

FAKE, FIRE, FOR THE LEAD... RODNEY HOOD! 👌#RipCity 138#MileHighBasketball 1375.6 left in 4OT on @ESPNNBA. POR ball. pic.twitter.com/qG44y4gvUC

— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2019

However, it was another bench player in the form of Rodney Hood who scored 7 in the final OT as the Portland Trail Blazers ended up taking a 2-1 lead. Lillard finished the game with 28 points and 8 assists as Jokic and Murray produced 33, and 34, respectively.

The Denver Nuggets fought back in the next two games as the Trail Blazers finished with two successive wins to reach the conference finals. The playoff game was the second in the history of the league to go into 4 overtimes.

Boston Celtics’ Bob Cousy scored 50 points in game 2 of the Eastern Division semifinals against the Syracuse Nationals back in March 1953. Cousy had registered a whopping 50 points as the Nationals, now known as the Philadelphia 76ers, saw 5 players score in double digits. Red Rocha top-scored for the Syracuse Nationals with 19 points while Paul Seymour produced 18 points and 4 assists.

However, the Boston Celtics won the game to clinch the series 2-0, but went on to lose to New York Knicks in the NBA Eastern Division Final.