Historic Finals denied

The hype is building for a potential third straight NBA Finals pitting the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors.

Off to a 3-0 lead over the injury-depleted San Antonio Spurs in the best-ofseven Western Conference Finals, the Warriors can clinch the series with a victory in Game 4 at San Antonio on May 22.

The Warriors are 11-0 in this postseason, having previously swept Portland in the first round and Utah in the conference semifinals.

LeBron James and the Cavs carried a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals into Game 3 at Quicken Loans Arena on May 21. They stood at 10-0 in the postseason off of sweeps over Indiana in the first round and Toronto in the conference semifinals.

“I just see two teams playing at a high level in the postseason,” James said after the Cavs’ shootaround on May 21 at Cleveland Clinic Courts.

The Warriors are the third team in NBA history to win 11 straight games to start the playoffs.

If both teams swept their conference finals this year, it would have been the first time in NBA history both teams in the Finals would have gotten there at 120. However, the Cavs lost Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on May 21.

In 2001, the Los Angeles Lakers got to the NBA Finals at 11-0 after sweeps of Portland, Sacramento and San Antonio in the Western Conference playoffs. Firstround series that year were best-of-five.

The Lakers lost the first game in the NBA Finals to Philadelphia then won the next four games to claim the title and finished the postseason at 15-1.

Cavs coach Tyronn Lue was a seldom-used back-up point guard on the Lakers when they won the 2001 title.

“I know we won that series and the title, but I really can’t remember much about the dynamics offensively and defensively,” Lue said before Game 3.

Dating to Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Cavs had notched 13 straight playoff victories going into Game 3 on these Eastern Confrence Finals.

The Spurs lost starting point guard Tony Parker to a season-ending quadriceps muscle tear suffered in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinal series against Houston. The Spurs eventually won that series, 4-2.

San Antonio then lost AllStar small forward Kawhi Leonard to a sprained ankle in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against Golden State. The Spurs were leading by 23 points when Leonard was forced from the floor and eventually lost, 113-111. Leonard hasn’t played since and likely will miss Game 4.

The Spurs also will move forward without back-up power forward David Lee, who suffered a partiallytorn patellar tendon early in Game 3 and will not return this season.

The Cavaliers found themselves in the same boat during the 2015 playoffs. Kevin Love suffered a season-ending shoulder separation on the controversial tangle with Boston’s Kelly Olynyk. Point guard Kyrie Irving was hampered by various injuries through the first three rounds of the playoffs that year.