2015–16 Cleveland Cavaliers season

There, the Cavaliers faced off against the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, the team that defeated them in the previous year's NBA Finals in six games, and were coming off of a record-breaking regular season, where the team posted a league-best 73–9 record.

The Cavaliers would go on to defeat the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals in seven games, coming back from a 3–1 series deficit to avenge their loss from the prior year.

The Cleveland Cavaliers would be the first NBA champion to represent the Central Division since the 2003–04 Detroit Pistons.

However, despite having the best record in their conference, the team fired head coach David Blatt on January 22, 2016.

[3] The Cavaliers finished the regular season with a 57–25 record and obtained the number one seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2010.

[4] In the 2016 NBA Playoffs' first round, the Cleveland Cavaliers matched up against the 8th seed Detroit Pistons.

They were considered huge underdogs because the Warriors had accomplished an incredible feat in the regular season, seventy-three wins and nine losses, the best record ever in the NBA.

[1] James was named the unanimous NBA Finals MVP, receiving the award for the third time in his career.

[21] Not only was this a monumental win for the Cleveland Cavaliers, it also cemented Lebron James as one of the all-time greats of the NBA.

(Photo from 2016 to 2017 season) Team captain forward LeBron James played his ninth season with Cleveland (and the second of his second stint). He was an All-Star for the twelfth time in his career, was named to the All-NBA First Team, and was named Finals MVP after leading the Cavaliers back from a 3–1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors for the franchise's first NBA title.
Team captain guard Kyrie Irving played his fifth season with Cleveland and hit the go-ahead shot in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.