The Cleveland Cavaliers are in their third consecutive NBA Finals, all of them against the Golden State Warriors. For the first time in NBA history two teams will meet in the Finals for a third straight year, something unseen even during the legendary Lakers-Celtics rivalry of the 60’s and 80’s.
The Cavs are back in the Finals with basically the same squad that won the title last year, led by LeBron James (32.5 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the playoffs). Kyrie Irving (24.5 points and 5.6 assists) and Kevin Love (17.2 points and 10.4 rebounds);backed up by Tristan Thompson (9.2 points and 9.3 rebounds) and J.R. Smith (almost seven points per game).
In addition, in the effort to wintheir second straight championshipthe Cavaliers have added a pair of veterans: point guardDeron Williams and three-point specialist Kyle Korver.
After ending the regular season with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference (51-31), the Cavs started to show their best version once the playoffs started.
In the first round, they swept the Indiana Pacers in dominant fashion, a feat they repeated in the Conference semifinals against the Toronto Raptors.
In Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics had home-field advantage against Cleveland, however this proved of little use.
The Cavs won the first game at TD Garden 104-117 andthe second 86-130 to take away the Celtics advantage and win the series in five games. The only Cavs loss came in surprising fashion in game 3 at Quicken Loans Arena when the Celtics won 111-108, thanks to a last-second three-point basket by Avery Bradley.
The home loss was a wake-up call for LeBron and the rest of the Cavswho then closed the series with consecutive wins in games four (112-99) and five (135-102).
Now the Cavs have to face Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Greenand the rest of the Warriors who badly want to redeem themselves for blowing last year’s 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals. The Cavs won’t shy away from the challenge as they look to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the also LeBron-led Miami Heat of 2012 and 2013.
