Nba 2017 Playoffs

 On day six of our NBA playoff roundup for 2017, LeBron James continues to make history, the Pacers are crumbling, Greg Monroe is shining, the Raptors need an eulogy, and the Grizzlies are not going to rake. The reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers host Game 1 of the 2017 NBA playoffs, vs. the Indiana Pacers. It ended in a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, the third straight time they have met in the finals. The first two games of the Finals were blowouts for the Golden State Warriors, Game Three was closer, but the Warriors came away victorious, going 3-0, moving to 15-0 in the 2017 NBA Playoffs, which was the best start to an NBA Playoffs series in NBA playoff history. 

 

The two teams that were going to compete for the NBA title, Golden State Warriors led by Kevin Durant, Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James, ran over the rest of the best playoff competition in the league like a man with a bottle of Kool-Aid running over walls. Game 3 was also the first defeat of the Cleveland Cavaliers in an NBA playoffs, and also the first defeat of the team in the playoffs since Game 4 of the 2016 NBA Finals, ending an NBA playoffs-record 13-game winning streak. The Cavaliers also fell off to finish off the season, losing their last four games in a row. The team was swept by the Boston Celtics, who finished the season two games ahead of Cleveland at 53-29. 

There were a half-dozen four-game sweeps in the 2017 playoffs

There were a half-dozen four-game sweeps in the 2017 playoffs, with just two series going the full seven games. That is because 16 out of 30 teams across the league made the postseason, eight of them in each conference. If a Finals series goes to five games or less, then this would be the shortest playoff run under this playoff format. The NBA Playoffs are comprised of a four-round single-elimination tournament bracket, with the last round--the NBA Finals--featuring the remaining teams from the Eastern Conference versus the remaining teams from the Western Conference.

TNT, in its 33rd straight year of covering the NBA, will broadcast over 40 games of the NBA playoffs -- the most by any network -- including the first- and second-round action, as well as an exclusive look at the Eastern Conference finals in 2017. The 2017 NBA Finals posted its highest ratings since the 1998 Finals, which was the sixth and final championship of Michael Jordans Chicago Bulls dynasty. By almost every metric, last year featured multiple blowouts, with the 2017 playoffs averaging a 13.5-point differential before the Finals, the fifth-highest mark of all-time and second-highest mark since 1959 (behind 2016, at 14.2). Many of the sixteen teams are bound to be relegated in the coming weeks, but they are all eyes on reaching the 2017 NBA Finals.