2015 NBA Finals Preview

And here we go. We started this journey way back in October. 30 teams all felt they had a chance to claim the crown. Then fast forward to April, where the playoffs rolled in with 16 teams standing. After a month and a half of battle, there are two teams left standing. What's on the line? Winner gets the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, as winners of the NBA Crown.

This year's finals matchup pits the best team in basketball the Golden State Warriors taking on the Eastern Conference Champions the Cleveland Cavaliers. For the Cleveland Cavaliers, they made the post season after winning the Central division, going 53-29 during the regular season. Once the Cavs entered the playoffs, they have had a somewhat easy trip to the finals. The Cavaliers swept the Boston Celtics in the first round, then bounced the Chicago Bulls in six games during the second round, while finally sweeping the Hawks in the conference finals. This marks the 5th straight year that an Eastern Conference team has Lebron James on its roster to play in the finals (this year with CLE and the last four with MIA). The last East team to play for a title without Lebron on the roster was the 2010 Boston Celtics who fell to the LA Lakers in seven games. Cleveland hasn't played for an NBA crown since getting swept by the Spurs in 2007, the only other time the franchise has made the finals.

As for the Golden State Warriors, they had the best record in the NBA during the regular season, going 67-15, including 39-2 at home. With the season the team had, rookie head coach Steve Kerr became the willingest rookie head coach in league history. In fact, Golden State became just the 10th team in league history to notch at least 67 victories. The last team to win 67 or more games was the 2006-2007 Dallas Mavericks. The last team in NBA history to win 67 or more games during the regular season and walk away with the NBA title was 1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers. Golden State got to this point in the playoffs by sweeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round, then they disposed of the Memphis Grizzlies in six games during the second round, finally taking care of the Houston Rockets in five games in the conference finals. For the Warriors, this marks the 7th time they have made the finals, winning the title three times. Their last championship victory came in 1975, sweeping the Washington Bullets. Ironically enough, that championship win was the last time that the Warriors have played in the finals.

These teams split the two meetings during the regular season. Golden State won in Cleveland, 112-94 on January 9th. Cleveland took the matchup out on the west coast, a 110-99 win on February 26th. The two teams have never faced eachother before in the playoffs.

Here are the dates, times and channels for every game in this series:
June 4 9:00 pm Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC
June 7 8:00 pm Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC
June 9 9:00 pm Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio ABC
June 11 9:00 pm Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio ABC
June 14 8:00 pm Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors* Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC
June 16 9:00 pm Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers* Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio ABC
June 19 9:00 pm Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors* Oracle Arena, Oakland, California ABC

Now that we know when and where the games are played, and how the teams got there, here's how we at Solly & Steve on Sports sees the finals going down!

Prediction
Solly: Warriors in 6
Steve: Cavaliers in 6
Danny: Warriors in 6
Jeff: Cavaliers in 6
Greg: Warriors in 7