Vote: How will the NBA Finals play out?
With the Cleveland Cavaliers' victory over the Boston Celtics on Thursday, it's official: The Cavaliers and theGolden State Warriors will meet in the NBA Finals for the third straight season.
This matchup has looked preordained since the playoffs began; the Cavaliers won their first 10 games of the postseason, and the Warriors have yet to drop a game (12-0). But that doesn't make it any less historic.
In the four major North American sports, the same teams have met on the championship stage in back-to-back-to-back seasons only three times before, and not since the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens faced off in the Stanley Cup finals from 1954-56. This will mark the first such occurrence in NBA history.
Which begs the question: Is anyone getting tired of seeing the same two teams battle it out on the league's biggest stage? Or do the first two meetings mean this rubber match will be more entertaining?
That's where we begin with our all-encompassing preview poll for the 2017 NBA Finals:
Through two meetings in the Finals thus far, Golden State has the slight edge in wins (7-6), but Cleveland has won the last three contests. Andre Iguodala (2015) and LeBron James (2016) have claimed MVP honors.
The Finals tip off June 1 at 9 p.m. ET in Oakland on ABC/WatchESPN.
-- David DeChant
