CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For the fourth consecutive year, the Cleveland Cavaliers will play the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. After the Cavaliers stunned the Boston Celtics in Game 7 on Sunday night, the Warriors did the same to the Houston Rockets one night later, rallying from an 11-point halftime deficit to claim the 101-92 win and set up another chapter in the NBA's best rivalry. Both teams rallied from 3-2 series deficits in the conference finals. The best-of-seven series between Cleveland and Golden State will begin Thursday night at Oracle Arena, as the Warriors will once again have home court advantage after finishing with a better regular season record. The Warriors have won two of the last three Finals matchups, with Cleveland capping its historic comeback in 2016. Golden State won last year's Finals in five games. Here is the complete schedule: Game 1: Thu, May 31: Cavaliers at Warriors, 9 p.m. ET, ABC Game 2: Sun, June 3: Cavaliers at Warriors, 8 p.m. ET, ABC Game 3: Wed, June 6: Warriors at Cavaliers, 9 p.m. ET, ABC Game 4: Fri, June 8: Warriors at Cavaliers, 9 p.m. ET, ABC *Game 5: Mon, June 11: Cavaliers at Warriors, 9 p.m. ET, ABC *Game 6: Thu, June 14: Warriors at Cavaliers, 9 p.m. ET, ABC *Game 7: Sun, June 17: Cavaliers at Warriors, 8 p.m. ET, ABC *if necessary<doc-sep>Kevin Durant smiled sheepishly when asked if it’s good for the NBA to have the same two teams returning to the NBA Finals year after year. “Yeah, I think it’s great, I think it’s great,” he said, before pausing. “You want me to elaborate? “I mean, it may not be as suspenseful as a lot of people want it to be or as drama-filled, but that’s what you’ve got movies and music for.” The Boston Celtics and Lakers met seven times in the 1950s and ’60s and three times during a four-year span in the 1980s. Theirs is the greatest NBA Finals rivalry the league has ever seen. The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t there yet. But they are starting to create history of their own. Advertisement When the Finals begin Thursday, it will be the fourth consecutive year in which the Warriors have played the Cavaliers. It’s the first time in the history of the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball or NHL that the same teams have met for a championship in four consecutive years. It is also LeBron James’ eighth consecutive Finals appearance, making him the sixth player in NBA history, and the first in more than 50 years, to accomplish that feat. Some of the faces have changed. The storylines have shifted. But no one’s been able to stop the Cavaliers or the Warriors from reaching each season’s inevitable conclusion. “Teams have had their opportunities to beat the Cavs over the last four years, and teams have had the opportunities to beat the Warriors over the last four years,” James said. “If you want to see somebody else in the [Finals], then you got to beat them.” Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry shoots against Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James during the second half of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on June 1, 2017. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press ) Both teams enter Thursday’s game with some uncertainty. For at least Game 1, the Warriors won’t have Andre Iguodala, who missed the last four games of the Western Conference finals with a leg contusion. That leaves some doubt as to how successfully the Warriors will be able to guard James, on whom Iguodala has had success. “LeBron’s a very cerebral player so he does a very good job of always being a threat whether he’s on the ball or off the ball,” Iguodala said. “He does a very good job of making teammates threats. Gotta stay locked in.” The Cavaliers might be without Kevin Love, who suffered a concussion in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Celtics. Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said if Love is cleared through the league’s concussion protocol, he will start. And where Kyrie Irving has been an integral part of any success Cleveland has had against the Warriors, he was traded last summer to the Celtics. The Warriors remained mostly unchanged. They brought back all their principals from last season’s championship team — Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Iguodala. The Cavaliers traded Irving for Isaiah Thomas in the summer, then turned over nearly half their roster at the trade deadline in an effort to turn themselves into a championship contender. Advertisement It hasn’t worked exactly as Cleveland hoped. The Cavaliers are still significant underdogs in this series, and few expect them to truly challenge the Warriors, who have won two of the previous three Finals with Cleveland. In fact, during Finals media day Wednesday, Curry was asked if the Warriors even fear any player other than James on the Cavaliers roster. “That we fear?” Curry said. A clarification followed from the reporter, who removed the offending word, but the point remained. “I mean, it’s a weird kind of dynamic thinking about this is the fourth time in a row we’ve played Cleveland in the Finals,” Curry said. “…There’s guys all around there that can do things and make plays and are threats. But obviously, everything starts with LeBron and trying to put up as much resistance as you can.” Advertisement About an hour later, James was asked a question in the inverse. He went through the list of great Warriors players and the fact that many of them come off the bench. To add to Thompson, Green, Curry and Durant, James noted, they have a Finals MVP (Iguodala), a fourth overall pick (Shaun Livingston) and an All-Star (David West) coming off their bench. “It’s truly fun to know when I’m done playing the game of basketball to know that I played against some of the greatest teams that ever played, ever been assembled — and this is one of them,” James said. “You know, it’s just like whoever they kind of suit up or whoever they decide to be a part of what they’ve got going on over here is just a really, really high IQ basketball player and knows how to play the game of basketball. At what chapter will the LeBron versus Warriors fit into my book? I have no idea.” Wherever it is, his teams and these Warriors will be inextricably linked with each other. tania.ganguli@latimes.com Advertisement Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli<doc-sep>Matteo Marchi/Getty Images The NBA announced the 12 referees that would be officiating the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers starting on Thursday night: Per the NBA Referees, the crew's experience is as follows: No. 25 Tony Brothers: 24 NBA seasons, 7th Finals appearance No. 24 Mike Callahan: 28 NBA seasons, 15th Finals appearance No. 19 James Capers: 23 NBA seasons, 7th Finals appearance No. 8 Marc Davis: 20 NBA seasons, 7th Finals appearance No. 48 Scott Foster: 24 NBA seasons, 11th Finals appearance No. 30 John Goble: 11 NBA seasons, 2nd Finals appearance No. 16 David Guthrie: 13 NBA seasons, 1st Finals appearance No. 14 Ed Malloy: 16 NBA seasons, 6th Finals appearance No. 41 Ken Mauer: 32 NBA seasons, 13th Finals appearance No. 23 Jason Phillips: 18 NBA seasons, 5th Finals appearance No. 9 Derrick Stafford: 30 NBA seasons, 8th Finals appearance No. 15 Zach Zarba: 15 NBA seasons, 5th Finals appearance "The 12 referees chosen to work the Finals have had outstanding years, earning the right to contribute their expertise to this year’s series," Monty McCutchen, the NBA's vice president and head of referee development and training said in a statement. "On a personal note, I know how much pride accompanies this honor and I congratulate these fine referees for reaching the pinnacle of their craft."<doc-sep>
Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers was a thrilling contest. In the end, the Warriors escaped with a 124-114 overtime victory, though the final score doesn't indicate just how close this game was for most of the way. In fact, the Warriors were perhaps lucky to even win in the first place. On the final possession, George Hill had a chance to put the Cavaliers in front with a free throw with under five seconds remaining, but missed. J.R. Smith grabbed the rebound, but thinking the Cavs were winning -- the game was actually tied -- pulled the ball out and dribbled out the final few seconds to send things to overtime. But even before that, the Warriors were on the receiving end of some good fortune. With under 40 seconds to play, the Warriors were down by two points, and in need of a clutch basket. They gave the ball to Kevin Durant, and he drove into the lane, where he crashed into LeBron James. Initially, the refs called it a charge, which would have given the Cavs the ball, up two, with about 36 seconds to play. But the referees got together, went to the monitor, and overturned the call on the floor. Instead, it was a block on LeBron, and Durant went to the line, where he drained two free throws to tie the game. After the game, the NBA Official Twitter account sent out a statement saying the refs were checking two things. One, if LeBron was in the restricted area, and two, if he was in legal guarding position. He was not in the restricted area, but the refs determined he was not in legal guarding position, so it was a block. After the game, Cavs head coach Ty Lue was upset about the call. The referees, however, are allowed to go to the monitor on block/charge calls in the last two minutes. It's a rarely used rule, but it is something the officials are within their rights to review. But obviously that doesn't make this loss any easier for Lue and the Cavs to digest.