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| Dates: | May 31–June 8 | |||||||||
| MVP: | Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors) | |||||||||
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| NBA Finals | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ← 2017 | ||||||||||
| 2019 → | ||||||||||
The 2018 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2017–18 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and conclusion of the season's playoffs.
In this best-of-seven playoff series, the defending NBA champion and Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors swept the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers in four games to win back-to-back titles, three in four years, and six overall, making it the second time that the Warriors swept a team in the Finals; the first being against the Washington Bullets in 1975. The Warriors became the 7th NBA franchise to win back-to-back championships, joining the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, and Miami Heat. The Warriors additionally joined the Heat (2012, 2013) as the only teams in the 2010s decade to repeat as champions. This year's Finals 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. This was also the first time that a team was swept in the NBA Finals since 2007, in which the Cavaliers were also swept against the San Antonio Spurs. LeBron James, in his eighth consecutive NBA Finals appearance and ninth appearance overall, suffered the second Finals sweep of his career, having also played in the 2007 Finals, being the fifth player, joining Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wes Unseld, and Michael Cooper to get swept in the Finals twice and first in two different decades. Warriors Small Forward Kevin Durant was named the NBA Finals MVP for the second straight year.
The Warriors have entered the series having home-court advantage with a regular-season record of 58–24, compared to the Cavaliers' regular-season record of 50–32. Entering the matchup, the Warriors were also noted by various sports media outlets as one of the biggest NBA Finals favorites in recent history. This was the first time since 2012 that the Finals did not feature either of the top seeds in each conference. The 2018 Finals began on May 31 and ended on June 8. The series broke the record set by the 2014 NBA Finals for the highest average scoring differential per game (15.0) for an NBA Finals series.
As of 2021, this is the last time that a team got swept in the NBA Finals as well as the last time that a team repeated as champions.
2018 NBA Playoffs[]
| Golden State Warriors (Western Conference Champion) | Cleveland Cavaliers (Eastern Conference Champion) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58–24 (.707)
1st Pacific, 2nd West, 3rd Overall |
Regular season | 50–32 (.646)
1st Central, 4th East, 6th Overall | ||
| Defeated the (7) San Antonio Spurs, 4–1 | First Round | Defeated the (5) Indiana Pacers, 4–3 | ||
| Defeated the (6) New Orleans Pelicans, 4–1 | Conference Semifinals | Defeated the (1) Toronto Raptors, 4–0 | ||
| Defeated the (1) Houston Rockets, 4–3 | Conference Finals | Defeated the (2) Boston Celtics, 4–3 | ||
Series summary[]
| Game | Date | Home Team | Result | Road Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Game 1 | May 31 | Golden State | 124–114 (OT) | Cleveland |
| Game 2 | June 3 | Golden State | 122–103 | Cleveland |
| Game 3 | June 6 | Cleveland | 102–110 | Golden State |
| Game 4 | June 8 | Cleveland | 85–108 | Golden State |
| Preceded by 2017 |
NBA Finals 2018 |
Succeeded by 2019 |