2017 NBA Finals

• 1. Introduction

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  The 2017 NBA Finals matched the Golden State Warriors against the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third consecutive year, closing out the NBA's 2016-17 season. This was the third year in a row the two teams had met in the Finals, following meetings in 2015 and 2016. It was the first time the same pair had played three consecutive Finals in NBA history. Golden State won the best-of-seven series four games to one, taking a second championship in three years and a fifth overall for the franchise. Kevin Durant was named the series' Most Valuable Player by unanimous vote, averaging 35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists across the five games. The series ran from the 1st of June to the 12th of June. What carried the Warriors to a historic run of playoff dominance, and what turned one game in Cleveland into pure chaos? And how did a Warriors victory end up tangled in a fight with the sitting president of the United States?

• 2. Building A Superteam

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  Kevin Durant signed with Golden State in the 2016 offseason, joining a roster still stinging from a seven-game Finals loss in which the Warriors had squandered a 3-1 lead. Media and fans quickly labeled the club a Superteam, and its new All-Star grouping of Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green became known as the Big Four.

  Golden State finished the 2016-17 regular season 67-15, matching its 2014-15 mark for the second-best record in franchise history, and captured the Pacific Division and Western Conference title for a third straight season. On the 25th of February 2017, the Warriors clinched their playoff berth two days earlier than they had the previous year, becoming the fastest team in NBA history to do so.

  Once the playoffs began, Golden State swept the Portland Trail Blazers, then the Utah Jazz, then the San Antonio Spurs, becoming the first team in NBA playoff history to open 12-0. That twelve-game streak tied for the third most consecutive postseason wins ever recorded, and the Warriors carried the largest playoff point differential in NBA history into the Finals, outscoring opponents by 16.3 points a game.

  That margin of dominance was about to run into a Cleveland team that had already beaten Golden State once that season. The two had met on Christmas Day 2016, in a thriller decided in the final seconds.

• 3. Cleveland's Uphill Climb

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  LeBron James walked into his seventh consecutive Finals, a personal streak matched among his teammates only by James Jones, who technically qualified in 2011 without playing in a game. This marked Cleveland's third consecutive trip to the Finals and its fourth appearance overall, with the Cavaliers seeking to repeat as champions.

  Cleveland finished the regular season 51-31, the number two seed in the East despite having only the conference's fifth-best record. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers swept the seventh-seeded Indiana Pacers, then swept the third-seeded Toronto Raptors, before needing five games to eliminate the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the conference finals.

  Golden State and Cleveland split two regular-season meetings in 2016-17, each winning on its own home floor. In their first meeting since the 2016 Finals, on Christmas Day 2016, Kyrie Irving sank a jump shot with 3.4 seconds left to beat the Warriors, after Cleveland had trailed by 14 points early in the fourth quarter. Kevin Durant lost the ball on Golden State's final possession without getting a shot off, and told reporters afterward that he believed Richard Jefferson had fouled him on the play.

  The next time the two teams met, on the 1st of June, the stakes were a championship, and Golden State had a very different plan.

• 4. A Record-Setting Barrage

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  Golden State won Game One 113-91 to take a 1-0 series lead. The Warriors led by just eight points at halftime, 60-52. They opened the third quarter on a 13-0 run and never trailed again. Kevin Durant scored 38 points to lead Golden State, and Stephen Curry added 28. LeBron James matched that pace with 28 points of his own. He became the first player to reach 6,000 career playoff points. James also passed Reggie Miller for second all-time in postseason three-pointers made. He grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out eight assists. But James also committed eight of Cleveland's 20 turnovers. Golden State committed only four turnovers as a team, tying the NBA record for fewest in a Finals game. Cleveland became the first team in Finals history to fail to record a single steal. The Cavaliers' nine-game road playoff winning streak, dating back to Game 5 of the 2016 Finals, came to an end. Interim head coach Mike Brown, a former Cavaliers coach, ran the Warriors sideline because Steve Kerr was out sick. Golden State's win made it the first team in NBA history to start 13-0 in the playoffs. James fell to 1-7 in his career in Finals openers.

  Three days later, Golden State won Game Three 118-113 to extend its streak to 15-0. No team in the four major North American sports leagues had ever opened a postseason 15-0. The Warriors set an NBA Finals record with nine three-pointers in the first quarter alone. That barrage built an early 39-32 lead. Golden State finished the first half with 12 three-pointers, another Finals record, leading 67-61 at the break. Cleveland answered with a 10-2 run to open the third quarter. The Cavaliers later led 113-107 with 2:32 remaining in the fourth quarter. Golden State closed the game on an 11-0 run to escape with the win. Kevin Durant hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 45.3 seconds left. Andre Iguodala then blocked a potential game-tying three from LeBron James. Durant finished with 31 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three. Klay Thompson scored 30 points, and Stephen Curry added 26 points and 13 rebounds. James put up 39 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists, one assist short of a triple-double. Kyrie Irving scored 38 points but shot 0-for-7 from three-point range. Cleveland finished a combined 12-of-44 from three-point range, compared to Golden State's 16-of-33.

• 5. One Wild Night In Cleveland

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  Cleveland led wire-to-wire in Game Four, routing Golden State 137-116 to end the Warriors' 15-game winning streak. The Cavaliers scored 49 points in the first quarter alone, the most of any quarter in Finals history. They scored 86 points in the first half, also a Finals record. Cleveland hit 13 three-pointers in that half, breaking the record Golden State had set the game before. The Cavaliers finished with 24 three-pointers for the game, breaking the record the Warriors had set in Game Two. Together the two teams scored 154 points in the first half, the most ever by two teams combined in a Finals half.

  LeBron James recorded his ninth triple-double of the Finals, with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. That mark passed Magic Johnson for the most triple-doubles in a single championship series. Early in the third quarter, James threw a pass off the backboard to himself and finished with a dunk. He also passed Michael Jordan for third all-time in points scored in Finals history. Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 40 points, breaking out of a shooting slump by going 7-for-12 from three. Kevin Love scored 23 points on 6-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. J. R. Smith added 15 points, all on three-pointers, going 5-of-9, including a 30-foot shot that beat the second-quarter shot clock buzzer. Kevin Durant scored 35 points to lead Golden State, but Curry, Thompson, and Green managed only 14, 13, and 16 points respectively. Cleveland trailed the series 3-1 as it shifted back to Oakland.

  With 1:56 left in the first quarter, Draymond Green was called for a hard foul, an elbow thrown at Iman Shumpert. Steve Kerr argued with officials over the call at the same moment, and a technical foul meant for Kerr was mistakenly recorded against Green. With 7:26 left in the third quarter, Kevin Love fouled Durant on a layup attempt. Durant said he had been hit hard in the forehead, and he exchanged words with James. Officials gave both players a double technical and hit Love with a flagrant foul. About a minute later, Green appeared to pick up a second technical that would have ejected him. Officials later confirmed the earlier technical belonged to Kerr, not Green. Late in the third quarter, Shumpert and Zaza Pachulia tangled over a loose ball, with Pachulia striking toward Shumpert's groin and Shumpert retaliating. During the same replay review, a fan ran onto the court to shout at Matt Barnes during a Warriors huddle. Officials gave Shumpert and Pachulia double technicals, and security escorted the fan out of the arena. Commentators and fans online called the officiating in the game a disaster and a sideshow.

  Golden State's unbeaten postseason was over, and Cleveland had forced a Game Five in Oakland with a real chance to extend the series further.

• 6. Durant's Redemption

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  Golden State closed out the series with a 129-120 win in Game Five, taking the championship four games to one. The Warriors finished the postseason 16-1, the best winning percentage in NBA playoff history. Kevin Love had his worst night of the series, scoring just six points and finishing a game-low minus-21 in 29 minutes. Golden State's bench outscored Cleveland's reserves 35 to seven.

  With 10:14 left in the second quarter, Golden State trailed 41-33 after a shaky start marked by turnovers. Cleveland had come out aggressive early, forcing Golden State into the mistakes. The Warriors fought back to take a 45-43 lead. With 3:08 left before halftime, David West tangled with Kyrie Irving over a loose ball. J. R. Smith shoved West from behind, and Tristan Thompson stepped into the scrum face to face with West. Officials reviewed the replay and gave technical fouls to West, Thompson, and Smith. Golden State then went on a 28-4 run to take control, shortly after Durant picked up an uncalled third foul on a James basket. Cleveland trailed by 11 at halftime.

  The Cavaliers outscored Golden State 33-27 in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to five points and later to three. They could not sustain the push in the fourth quarter. Kevin Durant hit a 17-foot fadeaway over James early in the period, then assisted an Andre Iguodala three-pointer on the next possession. Stephen Curry later buried a three over Irving to put the game away.

  Durant had been on the losing side of a Finals once before, in 2012. His Oklahoma City Thunder fell 4-1 that year to LeBron James and the Miami Heat. This time Durant turned the tables, scoring a team-high 39 points in a 4-1 defeat of James' Cavaliers, and was named the 2017 Finals MVP. Curry added 34 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds, while Draymond Green grabbed 12 rebounds. Andre Iguodala, the 2015 Finals MVP, scored 20 points off the bench. James finished with 41 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists, becoming the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double across a Finals series. He shot 56 percent from the field and 38 percent from three over the five games. His free-throw shooting and turnovers were the only weak spots. Kyrie Irving was Cleveland's second-leading scorer with 26 points on 9-of-22 shooting. It was also the last game of Irving's career with the Cavaliers before he was traded to the Boston Celtics that offseason. J. R. Smith closed out his best scoring night of the 2017 postseason, 25 points on 7-of-8 shooting from three.

  Golden State's win made it the first Bay Area team to clinch a championship in its own home city since 1974. That year, the Oakland A's beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the World Series. Two other Bay Area titles had come since then, but not on home turf. The San Francisco 49ers won Super Bowl XIX in January 1985 at Stanford Stadium in nearby Stanford. The Oakland Athletics won the 1989 World Series in San Francisco. For Golden State, the championship also settled the score from the loss it had suffered to Cleveland the year before.

• 7. Cameras, Ratings, And A Rematch

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  American audiences watched the series on ABC. Local affiliates joined in for a third straight year, WEWS-TV in Cleveland and KGO-TV in the Bay Area. Mike Breen called the play-by-play, with Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy providing color commentary. ESPN Radio carried the series with Marc Kestecher and Hubie Brown, while ESPN Deportes aired Spanish-language coverage with Álvaro Martín and Carlos Morales.

  Game One drew a 10.5 rating and 18.7 million viewers, and the numbers grew as the series progressed. Game Two drew a 10.7 rating and 19.7 million viewers. Game Three reached 11.3 and 20 million viewers, and Game Four held steady at 10.7 and 19 million. Game Five, the series-clinching win, topped the run with a 13.5 rating and 24.5 million viewers. The series averaged an 11.3 rating and 20.4 million viewers across the five games.

  The following year, Cleveland and Golden State met for a record fourth straight NBA Finals, and this time Golden State swept the series.

• 8. The White House Standoff

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  Stephen Curry said he did not want to join the Warriors' traditional White House visit, citing President Donald Trump's conservative politics. Trump responded on Twitter, declaring that Curry and the Warriors were no longer invited because of what he called their hesitation to accept his invitation. Trump's comment came one day after he had told NFL owners to fire players who would not stand for the national anthem. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was disappointed that the league's champion would not be visiting the White House. LeBron James also weighed in, calling Trump a bum and saying a White House visit had been an honor before Trump became president.

  Instead of the White House, the Warriors visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture with local students during their trip to Washington. Klay Thompson described the outing simply. "We're not going to politicize anything," he said. "We're just going to go hang out with some kids and take them to the African-American Museum and teach them things we learned along the way, life lessons and hopefully give them some great memories."

  A year later, ahead of the 2018 Finals, Trump confirmed that neither the Warriors nor the Cavaliers would be invited that year either. He said he only wanted to host teams that "want to be here." The Warriors eventually did visit the White House in 2023, celebrating their 2022 championship during the Biden administration.