2018 NBA Finals: Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers preview

For the fourth straight year, the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will face off for an NBA championship. Here’s our preview for the 2018 NBA Finals.

For the fourth straight year, the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will be facing off with a championship trophy at stake. It’s the only time in any of the four major sports that the same two teams have squared off for the title four straight times.

Despite the rarity of the situation, it came with an unquestionable sense of fatigue after the conference finals, when both the Houston Rockets and Boston Celtics fell to the call of destiny. Still, even though the final outcome was inevitable, the path there certainly wasn’t.

It took road victories in Game 7s for both the Dubs and Cavs to advance, and it was the first time since 1979 both conference finals series went the full distance. The 2018 NBA Finals are unlikely to make it that far, but this certainly isn’t a boring matchup either.

Arguably the greatest team of all time will be taking on arguably the greatest player of all time, and there’s something tragically beautiful about the absurd things LeBron James is going to do while pushing his boulder up the hill of a vastly superior opponent.

There are a number of other X-factors to consider here, like the availability of Kevin Love and Andre Iguodala; how long Steve Kerr will ride with traditional bigs like Kevon Looney and Jordan Bell when this series is clearly more suited for small-ball; how much fatigue will play a role for the King; whether Kevin Durant‘s iso-offense will stomp out good ball movement again; the list goes on and on.

However, as inevitable as the outcome of this series might seem, as the conference finals proved, the road leading there may surprise us. In order to be prepared for any potential twists and turns, here’s a look at the individual matchups and key questions that will decide the 2018 NBA Finals.