Cleveland Cavaliers

Lore & Background

The Cavaliers opened their inaugural season by losing their first 15 games and struggled in their early years, placing no better than sixth in the Eastern Conference during their first five seasons. The team won their first Central Division title in 1976, which also marked the first winning season and playoff appearance in franchise history, where they advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. The franchise was purchased by Ted Stepien in 1980. Stepien's tenure as owner was marked by six coaching changes, questionable trades and draft decisions, and poor attendance, leading to $15 million in financial losses. The Cavs went 66–180 over the course of those three seasons and endured a 24-game losing streak spanning the 1981–82 and 1982–83 seasons. George and Gordon Gund purchased the franchise in 1983. During the latter half of the 1980s and through much of the 1990s, the Cavs were a regular playoff contender – led by players such as Mark Price and Brad Daugherty – and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1992. After the team's playoff appearance in the 1997–98 season, however, the Cavs had six consecutive losing seasons with no playoff action. Cleveland was awarded with the top overall pick in the 2003 draft, and they selected LeBron James. Behind James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Cavaliers again became a regular playoff contender by 2005. They made their first appearance in the NBA Finals in 2007 after winning the first Eastern Conference championship in franchise history. After failing to return to the NBA Finals in the ensuing three seasons, James joined the Miami Heat in 2010. As a result, the Cavaliers finished the 2010–11 season last in the conference, enduring a 26-game losing streak, the third-longest in NBA history. Between 2010 and 2014, however, the team won the top pick in the NBA draft lottery three times – first in 2011 where they selected Kyrie Irving, and again in 2013 and 2014. After four seasons with the Heat and having won back-to-back titles in the 2011–12 and 2012–13 seasons, James returned to the Cavs in 2014 and led the team to four straight NBA Finals appearances. In 2016, the Cavaliers won their first NBA Championship, marking Cleveland's first major sports title since 1964. The 2016 NBA Finals victory over the Golden State Warriors marked the first time in Finals history a team had come back to win the series after trailing 3

In Their Own Story

The arena smells like popcorn and old sweat. The hardwood is scuffed to a dull amber where the paint has worn thin, and the crowd noise is a low, constant drone that swells every time a screen is set at the hip. You can see it in the way the Pacers' point guard wipes his palms on his shorts before the inbound, the way the Cavs' center rolls his shoulders and locks eyes across the court like he's settling a score from last March. The referee's whistle cuts the noise for half a second. The ball bounces. Someone elbows someone. The crowd roars like it's 2015 again, like the series still matters, like the division still means something and the standings still have teeth. It does. It always does. And somewhere in the third quarter, when the lead is two and the clock is at four minutes, you will feel your stomach drop in a way that has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with the fact that you know, in your bones, how this ends.

Reader's Guide

The Cavaliers began play in the 1970–71 season as an expansion team. They set losing records in each of their first five seasons before winning their first division title in 1976. The 1976 team was led by Austin Carr, Bobby 'Bingo' Smith, Jim Chones, Dick Snyder, Nate Thurmond and head coach Bill Fitch. It was remembered for the 'Miracle at Richfield', in which the Cavaliers defeated the Washington Bullets, 4–3, in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. They won Game 7, 87–85, on a shot by Snyder with four seconds to go. The Cavaliers moved on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time, but were without Chones after he broke his toe before the series opener. As a result, the Cavaliers went on to lose, 4–2, to the Boston Celtics. They made playoff appearances in the following two seasons before a six-year playoff drought. The early 1980s were marked by Ted Stepien's ownership. During Stepien's tenure, the Cavaliers made a practice of trading future draft picks for marginal veteran players. His most notable deal sent a 1982 first-round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Don Ford and the 22nd overall pick in 1980. As a result of Stepien's dealings, the NBA introduced the 'Stepien Rule', which prohibits teams from trading first-round draft picks in successive seasons. The Cavaliers went 66–180, dropped to the bottom of the league in attendance and lost $15 million during Stepien's three years as the owner. The Cavs went through six coaches during this span, including four during the 1981–82 season. The team finished 15–67, and between March and November 1982, the team had a 24-game losing streak, which, at the time, was the NBA's longest losing streak. George and Gordon Gund purchased the Cavaliers from Stepien in 1983. The Cavaliers made the playoffs 10 times between 1985 and 1998. The 1988–89 season was the Cavaliers' best season to date, finishing the regular season at 57–25 with a team that included Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Ron Harper and Larry Nance, and head coach Lenny Wilkens. They had their second 57-win season in 1991–92 and reached the Eastern Conference Finals that year. However, between 1999 and 2005, the Cavaliers failed to make a playoff appearance. The Cavaliers finished the 2002–03 season 17–65, tied for the worst record in the NBA. The Cavaliers had the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NBA draft, selecting future NBA MVP LeBron James,

Did You Know?

• The Cavaliers' 2016 NBA Finals victory over the Golden State Warriors marked the first time in Finals history a team had come back to win the series after trailing 3–1.
• The NBA introduced the 'Stepien Rule' as a result of Ted Stepien's practice of trading future draft picks for marginal veteran players.
• LeBron James, a native of nearby Akron, was selected first overall by the Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA draft.