2016 NBA Finals
The 2016 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2015–16 season and conclusion of the 2016 playoffs. The best-of-seven playoffs was played between the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers and the defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors in a rematch of the previous year's Finals. It was the 14th rematch of the previous NBA Finals in history, and the second straight rematch in back-to-back years, as the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs played each other in 2013 and 2014. The series was played from June 2 to 19.
Team
June 2–19
LeBron James
(Cleveland Cavaliers)
Coming off a record-breaking league-best record of 73–9, the Warriors won three of their first four games before the Cavaliers rallied to win the last three games to clinch their NBA championship, thus ending the Cleveland sports curse. They became the first team in NBA Finals history to overcome a 3–1 deficit. This also marked the first time since 1978 that Game 7 was won by the road team and as of 2024, this is the most recent NBA Finals to feature a Game 7. LeBron James was unanimously voted the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) after leading all players in a playoff series in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, the first for a player in NBA history. The series is widely regarded as one of the greatest Finals of all time.
Aftermath[edit]
The Cavaliers and Warriors also met in the following two NBA Finals, the first time in any of North America's four major professional sports leagues that the same two teams met for the championship four years in a row.[74] The Warriors, who added Kevin Durant in the 2016 offseason, defeated the Cavaliers in five games in 2017 and a four-game sweep in 2018. Durant was named the Finals' MVP in both series.
The Warriors made it to a fifth consecutive Finals in 2019, which they would lose to the Toronto Raptors in six games. Three years later, they made it to their sixth Finals in eight seasons and defeated the Boston Celtics in six games.
James left the Cavaliers in the 2018 offseason to join the Los Angeles Lakers. He would lead the Lakers to a title in 2020 and win Finals MVP that year.
Following James' departure, the Cavaliers struggled for several seasons. In 2022, they acquired Donovan Mitchell via a trade and next made the playoffs in 2023, which was also their first playoff appearance without James since 1998.