The Biggest Comeback in NBA History

The biggest comeback in NBA history is the Utah Jazz’s 36-point rally against the Denver Nuggets on November 27, 1996. Utah trailed 70-36 at halftime after Denver shot a scorching 73 percent in the first half, then flipped the game completely to win 107-103, overcoming the largest deficit ever erased in an NBA game.

Comebacks are basketball at its most dramatic, when a game that looks decided suddenly turns. Erasing a huge deficit requires a perfect storm: a scoring drought for one team, a heater for the other, and enough time to bridge the gap. Here is the full leaderboard of the biggest comebacks in NBA history, the games behind them, and why 36 points remains the mark to beat. All figures are as of the 2025 season.

The record: the Jazz erase 36 points

Denver’s first half against Utah in 1996 was nearly flawless. The Nuggets led 70-36 at the break, seemingly cruising. But the Jazz, led by John Stockton and Karl Malone, clamped down defensively and chipped away possession by possession, outscoring Denver 71-33 the rest of the way. The 107-103 win completed the greatest comeback the league has ever seen and extended a Jazz winning streak. Nearly 30 years later, no team has matched it.

The full leaderboard of the biggest NBA comebacks

The table below ranks the largest deficits overcome in NBA games, including the playoff record.

Rank	Deficit	Winner	Opponent	Date	Type
1	36	Utah Jazz	Denver Nuggets	Nov 27, 1996	Regular season
2	35	LA Clippers	Washington Wizards	Jan 25, 2022	Regular season
2	35	Sacramento Kings	Chicago Bulls	Dec 21, 2009	Regular season
4	32	Boston Celtics	San Antonio Spurs	Apr 30, 2021	Regular season
5	31	Utah Jazz	Chicago Bulls	Feb 4, 1998	Regular season
5	31	LA Clippers	Golden State Warriors	Apr 15, 2019	Playoffs

The list is topped by the Jazz, with two 35-point comebacks just behind. The Clippers appear twice, including their 2019 playoff rally against a Warriors team headed to the NBA Finals, the largest comeback in postseason history.

The near-misses

Two teams have come within a single point of the record. The Clippers wiped out a 35-point deficit against Washington in 2022, winning 116-115, and the Kings erased 35 against Chicago in 2009. Both games showed how quickly momentum can swing when the trailing team gets stops and starts making shots. Huge comebacks often coincide with huge scoring nights, the kind that appear on our highest-scoring NBA games and most points in a game leaderboards.

What makes a comeback possible

A 30-point deficit is not erased by scoring alone; it takes defense that forces a drought on the other end. The best comebacks pair a defensive clampdown with efficient offense and, often, elite playmaking to generate easy baskets, the same skill behind our most assists in a single NBA game record. Momentum, crowd energy and a few timely runs do the rest, but only rarely does everything align long enough to overcome 35 or more.

Why the record matters

The biggest comeback measures the outer limit of what is possible in a single game, proof that no lead is truly safe. The Jazz’s 36-point rally has survived nearly three decades of higher-scoring, faster-paced basketball, and it takes a near-perfect collapse and counter-surge to even approach it. Great teams also build cushions rather than deficits, as our list of the longest winning streaks in NBA history shows.

The short version: the Utah Jazz’s 36-point comeback against the Denver Nuggets in 1996 is the biggest in NBA history, ahead of 35-point rallies by the Clippers (2022) and Kings (2009), with the Clippers’ 31-point 2019 playoff comeback the postseason record, as of the 2025 season.