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The Cleveland Cavaliers made NBA history on June 19th when they won the league championship by defeating the Golden State Warriors four games to three. The club is the first ever to win the title after trailing a best-of-seven Final series by three games to one. The Cavaliers dropped the first two games on the road in Oakland before winning the first outing in Cleveland to narrow the gap to 2-1. Golden State then went up 3-1 with a win in Cleveland before the Cavaliers came storming back with three straight victories to win the series. The final game was the closest of the seven with Cleveland taking it 93-89. Cleveland’s LeBron James was named the playoff MVP. Golden State beat Cleveland in six games last year to take the NBA crown.

James led the way as Cleveland’s win snapped a 52-year drought for a major sports title in the city by winning its first ever NBA title. Cleveland last won a major trophy when the NFL’s Cleveland Browns won a championship way back in 1964. James, who hails from Ohio, promised the state two years ago that he’d help deliver a championship and kept his word.

James scored 27 points in game seven and added 11 assists and rebounds. He also led the team in games five and six with 41 points in each of those contests. That made him the fifth NBA player to have back-to back games with at least 40 points in a Final series. 

Cleveland’s comeback saw Golden State lose three consecutive games for the first and only time this season. The Warriors won an NBA record 73 games this season after getting off to a 24-0 start and lost just two at home.

They had also lost just a pair of games in this year’s postseason. James and his teammates got a lot of help from Kyrie Irving, who also had a fine series, as he chipped in with 26 points in the finale. The Warriors had regular-season MVP Stephen Curry on their side, but he was outplayed by both James and Irving in the Final series. Draymond Green led Golden State in game seven with 32 points along with 15 rebounds and his nine assists. Things might have been different in the series if he wasn’t suspended for game five.

The Warriors had their chance to win game seven, but failed to score a point in the final 4:39 of the game. The team took nine more shots after that and missed them all while Curry missed his last four attempts at three-pointers. The two-time league MVP Curry also had a tough time of it in game six as he fouled out of the game late in the outing. Golden State will now go down in history as the best regular-season team to fail to win the championship. They’re not alone though as the NFL’s New England Patriots went 16-0 in 2008 and lost in the Super Bowl. In addition, the Boston Celtics won 68 games in 1972/73 and failed to win the NBA title.