when did the cavaliers win the nba championship
2016 NBA Finals The 2016 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA) 2015–16 season and conclusion of the 2016 playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors 4–3 in a rematch of the 2015 NBA Finals. It was the 14th rematch of the previous NBA Finals in history, and the first Finals since 2008 in which the number one seed in each conference met. It was the second straight rematch in back-to-back years, as the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs played each other in 2013 and 2014.
LeBron James After the Cavaliers traded All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving in the off-season, Cleveland started the 2017–18 season with a 3–5 record. The next game, the Cavaliers defeated the Washington Wizards 130–122. James scored 57 points in the game to set the second-highest point total of his career, making 23 of 34 field-goal tries and all nine free throws, adding 11 rebounds and seven assists. James reached at least 10 points for the 800th game in a row, joining Michael Jordan (866) as the only other NBA player with a streak that long. James also became the youngest player to reach 29,000 career points in the NBA.[198] On November 28, 2017, James was ejected for the first time in his career during the third quarter of the Cavaliers' 108–97 win over the Miami Heat. James was in the midst of his 1,082nd career regular season game, and 1,299th overall.[199] On December 16, 2017, he had his 60th career triple-double in a 109–100 win over the Utah Jazz. James had his fifth triple-double of the season and passed Larry Bird for sixth on the career list.[200] On January 23, 2018, in a 114–102 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, James became the seventh player in NBA history to reach 30,000 career points. At 33 years and 24 days, James became the youngest player to score 30,000—Kobe Bryant was 34 years and 104 days when he got there.[201] On February 27, 2018, he scored 31 points and finished a month averaging a triple-double for the first time in his career, as the Cavaliers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 129–123. James also had 12 rebounds and 11 assists for his 12th triple-double of the season and 67th of his career. He reached 8,000 assists during the game to become the first player in NBA history to reach 30,000 points, 8,000 rebounds and 8,000 assists.[202] On March 30, 2018, in a 107–102 win over the Pelicans, James scored in double digits in his 867th straight game, breaking Michael Jordan's long-standing record.[203] During the 2018 NBA Playoffs, James was named to the All-NBA First Team for the 12th straight year, marking a new NBA record. With the Cavaliers defeating the Boston Celtics 87–79 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, James reached the NBA Finals for the eighth straight year, which no player had done since members of the early Celtics dynasty did so in the 1960s.[204] In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, James scored 51 points to go with eight assists and eight rebounds in a 124–114 overtime loss. James became only the sixth player to ever score at least 50 points in a NBA Finals game. This also notched his eighth game of at least 40 points in the 2018 playoffs and tied Jerry West's feat in 1965 for most in a single postseason.[205] The Cavaliers went on to lose to the Warriors in four games, with James averaged 34 points (his second-highest total), 8.5 rebounds and 10 assists in the series despite playing with a self-inflicted hand injury that he sustained after Game 1. James scored 748 points in the playoffs, the second most in a postseason behind Jordan, who scored 759 in 1992.[206] On June 29, 2018, James announced that he opted out of his contract with the Cavaliers to become a free agent.[207]
Los Angeles Lakers Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Boston Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. In 1968, the Lakers acquired four-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Wilt Chamberlain to play center, and after losing in the Finals in 1969 and 1970, they won their sixth NBA title—and first in Los Angeles—in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman. After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team acquired another center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had won multiple MVP awards, but was unable to make the Finals in the late 1970s. The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" due to their Magic Johnson-led fast break-offense, and won five championships in a 9-year span, including their first ever Finals championship against the Celtics in 1985. This team featured Hall of Famers in Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, and a Hall of Fame coach, Pat Riley. After Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson's retirement, the team struggled in the early 1990s before acquiring Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996. Led by O'Neal, Bryant, and another Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, Los Angeles won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002, securing the franchise its second "three-peat". After losing both the 2004 and 2008 NBA Finals, the Lakers won two more championships by defeating the Orlando Magic in 2009 and Boston in 2010.
NBA Finals During the 2015–16 season, the Warriors broke the record for most wins in a season with a record of 73–9 and Curry won his second straight MVP award, as well as becoming the first unanimous MVP in history and shattering his own record for three-pointers made in a single season by over one hundred in the process. The Warriors fell to a 3-1 deficit in the Western Conference Finals against a Kevin Durant-led Oklahoma City Thunder team, but won three straight elimination games to take the series and advance to a second straight Finals. The Cavaliers finished the season as the top-seed in the Eastern Conference and won their first 10 straight playoff games, ultimately defeating the Toronto Raptors 4–2 in the Eastern Conference Finals to ensure the rematch of last year's Finals. In the 2016 NBA Finals, the Warriors got out to a 3-1 lead, but James and Irving led the Cavs to two straight victories to force a deciding Game 7. In a key sequence with two minutes remaining in Game 7, LeBron James made a memorable chase-down block on Iguodala to keep the game tied, while Irving hit a 3-point shot a minute later to take the lead. Cleveland managed to hold on to the lead to win the title and end the city's 52-year championship drought, with James earning his third Finals MVP honor.[9]