



The Golden State Warriors advanced to the NBA Finals on Monday night after completing a third consecutive sweep in this year’s playoffs with a 129-115 win over the Spurs in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. With the win, Golden State will make a third straight trip to the Finals, having won in 2015 and lost in 2016.

In both of those series, the Warriors faced the Cavs, and with Cleveland holding a 2-1 lead on Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals, the expectation is that we will get the first ever NBA Finals trilogy. The Cavs have been almost equally as dominant as Golden State in these playoffs, with the exception of a Game 3 slip-up against the Celtics, ruining their otherwise perfect postseason record. We could know as early as Thursday if the Cavs-Warriors grudge match will be happening, and Warriors owner Joe Lacob is hoping for it.

While the Celtics, now without Isaiah Thomas, would provide an easier path to a second championship for Golden State, Lacob — of “light years ahead” fame — wants his team to face the Cavs because he wants revenge for last year.



Joe Lacob said he wants Cleveland: "We were the better team but they did win. We need a chance to go in there and prove that." — Marcus Thompson (@ThompsonScribe) May 23, 2017

As you surely know, the Warriors held a 3-1 lead before the Cavs managed to rattle off three straight wins to complete the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history. Golden State went out and snagged Kevin Durant off of the free agent market to make an already great team even more dangerous, and want a chance to take down the King in order to get their crown back.

It’s not surprising that Lacob would say this, and the rest of the Warriors likely feel the same way. Any competitor wants to beat the best in order to prove themselves. We’ll have to see if Golden State learned their lesson last year and avoids poking the bear too much if they do meet LeBron James and Cleveland again. Everything was going great for the Warriors until they decided to get too cocky and talk smack to the King, and ever since (Game 3 of this ECF aside) he’s been nothing short of incredible in the playoffs.