NBA Finals 2017 Cavs Vs Warriors: What You Need To know

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors will meet in the NBA Finals for the third straight year. In what has become an annual tradition for the gem of Lake Erie and the Bay Area, the two teams will meet for an unprecedented trilogy of Finals match-ups.

No rivalry in NBA history has seen two teams square-off for three straight years. Not even the vaunted Boston Celtics-Los Angeles Lakers rivalry reached such storied, exhausting heights.

Here's everything you need to know to enjoy this rubber match. (Subscribe to the Patch Cleveland newsletter for more updates and local news.)

What: NBA Finals, Game 1
Who: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors
When: Thursday, June 1 at 9 p.m.
Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland
TV: ABC
Radio: NBA League Pass, Cleveland Cavaliers Radio
History: What more needs to be said? The Cavaliers and Warriors have developed a rivalry unlike anything in NBA history.

The two teams first met in the Finals in 2015, where the boys from Oakland won in six games. The series was controversial in Cleveland because both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were injured and did not play in the series.

Last year, the teams matched-up again. It initially looked as if Golden State would cruise to a second straight title, after the Warriors took a 3-1 lead in the series. However, the Cavs came roaring back on the strength of three straight Herculean performances by LeBron James and some clutch contributions from Irving and Love. Cleveland won three straight games and the city's first title in a half century.

Now, the teams face-off again. Of course, things have changed. Golden State signed its biggest intra-conference foe, Kevin Durant, in the off-season and became even more potent as an offense than they were in 2016 and 2015. The Warriors again finished atop the Western Conference with a record of 67-15. Cleveland finished second in the Eastern Conference, behind the Celtics, with a record of 51-31.

For James, the stakes are again high for his legacy. Two of his greatest on-court foes, Durant and Steph Curry, have joined forces on a team that went a record best 73-9 in 2016. Should James and the Cavs pull off another upset victory in the Finals, it would cement James' legacy as one of the best players in history.

However, this post-season has already notched one major accomplishment for James. He surpassed Michael Jordan as the all-time leading scorer in NBA playoff history during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, hitting a three pointer to record his 5,989th career playoff point. During a video with reserve forward Richard Jefferson, James downplayed the accomplishment and quipped that he was, "A passer anyway."

Sneaky Thing To Look Forward To: One of the surprises of this 2017 NBA post-season has been the incredible smack talk coming from the Cleveland Public Library. Michael Young, marketing and communications at CPL, has done an incredible job laying the gauntlet down to other libraries with something called book spine poetry. Check out one of his creations.

Young told Patch this week that he's been anticipating a match-up with Golden State and hopes the Oakland Public Library will be keen to engage in some friendly, poetic jabbing on social media. Read more about the book spine trash talking here.

Photo from Rick Uldricks, Patch