The 2018 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association’s 2017–18 season. The Golden State Warriors swept the defending Eastern Conference champions Cleveland Cavaliers four games to zero. This was 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. Warriors small forward Kevin Durant was named NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year.
About 2018 NBA Finals in brief
The 2018 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association’s 2017–18 season. In this best-of-seven playoff, the defending NBA champions and Western Conference champions Golden State Warriors swept the defending Eastern Conference champions Cleveland Cavaliers four games to zero. This was 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. It was the eighth consecutive NBA Finals appearance for Cavaliers small forward LeBron James. Warriors small forward Kevin Durant was named NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year. The series broke the record set by the 2014 NBA Finals for highest average scoring differential per game for an NBA Finals series. The Warriors won the regular season series 2–0, with Klay Thompson of the Warriors suffering a leg injury in the first quarter but returning to the game in the second quarter. The Cavaliers won the series 2-1, with R.J. Smith of the Cavaliers missing a free throw in the final seconds of regulation and the game going to overtime.
The game went to overtime, with the Warriors scoring 17 points in the overtime period to win the game 17–7. The Finals was won by the Warriors in four games, with Kevin Durant scoring 14 points. The NBA Finals is the only one in which both the Cavaliers and the Warriors were also the losing team in the same season. It is also the first Finals sweep since 2007, in which the Cavaliers also lost to the Warriors, and the second Finals sweep of LeBron James’ career, having also played in the 2007 Finals. This is the fourth consecutive trip to the Finals for the Cavaliers, and fifth appearance overall for LeBron James, in his eighth consecutive Finals appearance. The first time since 2012 that the Finals did not feature either of the top seeds in each conference. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers defeated the Indiana Pacers in seven games in thefirst round, swept the top-seeded Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and defeated the Boston Celtics in seven series.
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