2006–07 Cleveland Cavaliers season

The 2006–07 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 37th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Led by 22-year old forward LeBron James, the Cavaliers finished the season with a 50–32 record, finishing second-place in the Central Division, winning their first Eastern Conference championship, and earning the franchise's first trip to the NBA Finals. During the season, the Cavaliers were recorded as having the fourth best team defensive rating in the NBA.

The Cavaliers clinched their playoff berth for the second consecutive season since the 2005–06 season and their second time since the 1997–98 season. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers swept the Washington Wizards in four games in the First Round, then defeated the New Jersey Nets in six games in the Semi-finals, before finally defeating the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in six games in the conference finals, advancing to their first ever NBA Finals.

However, in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers were defeated by the more experienced San Antonio Spurs in four games. James was the team's leading scorer and finished in 5th place in league MVP voting.

The Cavaliers would not return to the Finals until 2015, when James returned to the team after a four year tenure with the Miami Heat.

Key Dates On June 28, the 2006 NBA draft took place in New York City. In July, the free agency period began. On October 10, the Cavaliers' preseason began with a 93–109 loss to the Boston Celtics. On November 1, the Cavaliers' regular season began with a 97–94 win over the Washington Wizards. On March 27, the Cavaliers clinched a playoff berth. On June 2, the Cavaliers won their first ever Eastern Conference championship. On June 14, the Cavaliers' season ended in an NBA Finals sweep to the San Antonio Spurs.

Offseason

Free agents + AdditionsPlayer Date Former team Scot Pollard August 18 Indiana Pacers David Wesley September 5 Houston Rockets+ SubtractionsPlayer Date New team Flip Murray July 18 Detroit Pistons Stephen Graham August 9 Portland Trail Blazers Alan Henderson September 8 Philadelphia 76ers Eddie Basden November Fenerbahçe

Trades

August 18, 2006 To Cleveland Cavaliers Eddie Basden To Chicago Bulls Martynas Andriuskevicius

October 13, 2006 To Cleveland Cavaliers Dwayne Jones To Boston Celtics Luke Jackson and cash considerations

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 25 Shannon Brown Guard Michigan State 2 42* Daniel Gibson Guard Texas 2 55 Ejike Ugboaja Forward Union Bank Lagos (Nigeria)

*2nd round pick acquired from Philadelphia in Lee Nailon deal.Conditional 2nd round pick traded to Philadelphia for Lee Nailon and a 2006 2nd round pick https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/76ers-deal-nailon-to-cavaliers-1.580984

Roster

Player salaries Rank Player Salary 1 Larry Hughes$13,363,012 2 Zydrunas Ilgauskas $9,422,697 3 Drew Gooden $6,645,402 4 LeBron James $6,128,090 5 Eric Snow $6,093,750 6 Donyell Marshall $5,633,037 7 Damon Jones $3,884,678 8 Ira Newble $3,196,050 9 Scot Pollard $2,200,000 10 Sasha Pavlović $1,962,206 11 David Wesley $1,750,000 12 Shannon Brown $971,280 13 Anderson Varejão $945,600 14 Dwayne Jones $664,209 15 Daniel Gibson $412,718

Regular season

Season standings

Playoffs

Game log

First round

A rematch of the previous year's first round series was spoiled when Wizards star Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler were both forced out of the playoffs due to injuries received in the later parts of the regular season. Without Arenas and Butler, the Wizards found themselves unable to stop LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers from sweeping them out of the playoffs. It was Cleveland's first playoff sweep in franchise history.

Eastern Semifinals

The Cavaliers advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1992, while the Nets have lost in the conference semifinals in three out of the last four years.

New Jersey Nets point guard Jason Kidd averaged a triple double the entire playoffs, scoring 14.6 points, grabbing 10.9 rebounds and dishing out 10.9 assists per game.

The Cavaliers also got revenge of sorts, by eliminating the Nets two years after the Nets eliminated them on the final day of the regular season.ESPN.com Recap: Nets VS. Celtics, April 20, 2005ESPN.com Recap: Cavaliers VS. Raptors, April 20, 2005

Eastern Finals

In a rematch of last year's second-round series, the Pistons and the Cavaliers matched up in perhaps one of the closest contested series in NBA history, with the first five games being decided by 6 points or less. The spotlight of the series fell on Cleveland's LeBron James. Despite gaining some momentum in the opening games of the series against the experienced Pistons, key last-second decisions by James led to Cleveland losses in Games 1 and 2 in Detroit, by identical scores where Cleveland led for most of the two games. They faced a 0–2 deficit for the second straight year but would easily remember from the year before they could win three straight games to get back into the series.

With media circles on his back for his complacency in these games (James had a playoff career low 10 points in Game 1), LeBron came back to will the Cavs to close victories in Games 3 and 4 in Cleveland, evening the series at 2. The series shifted back to Detroit for a Game 5 that proved to be one of the most memorable postseason games in recent NBA history. In a match that went into double overtime, the Cavaliers stunned the Pistons on their home court, thanks to LeBron James' playoff career-high 48 point performance. James scored the Cavaliers' final 25 points of the game, including all 18 points in overtime making it two straight two-point wins at the Palace in Game 5.

This time around the heavily favored Cavaliers took advantage of their home court in 2007 and exploded in Game 6 to close out the Pistons once and for all, and to clinch the franchise's first trip to the NBA Finals. Rookie Daniel Gibson scored his career high 31 points including five three-pointers to lift the Cavs in the second half behind a roaring home crowd.

NBA Finals

Game 1 LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers entered the 2007 Finals as newcomers. Game 1 was the first NBA Finals appearance in franchise history, and the first for each of its players (other than reserve point guard Eric Snow). However, the San Antonio Spurs had been to the Finals in three of the past eight seasons, winning a championship each time. With solid performances by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginóbili, the Spurs won the series opener in convincing fashion, limiting LeBron James to 14 points on 4–16 shooting.

Game 2 The Spurs took a stranglehold on momentum in Game 2. The Spurs big three overwhelmed the Cavs and the Spurs led by as many as 29 points in the third quarter. They absolutely dominated game during first 3 quarters and played show-time basketball. A furious 25–6 rally by Cleveland in the final quarter wasn't enough as the Spurs took a 2–0 lead in the series.

Game 3 Rookie Daniel Gibson started Game 3 in place of the injured Larry Hughes but scored a series-low 2 points on 1–10 shooting. As a team the Cavs shot only .367 but out-rebounded the Spurs 48–41. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had a 2006–07 season high 18 rebounds. On the game's final play, LeBron James missed a potential game-tying 29 foot 3-pointer (which he contested as a foul on Bruce Bowen).

Game 3 was the lowest-scoring Finals game since 1955, with Tim Duncan of the Spurs having his lowest scoring game in his NBA Finals career, with 14 points.

Game 4 San Antonio started out strong through the first three quarters, leading by as many as 11. Cleveland would stage a rally near the end of the third quarter and the first five minutes of the fourth, scoring 14 consecutive points to take its first second-half lead of the series. However, the Spurs would stage a 12–3 rally of their own to retake the lead and win the series in a 4–0 sweep.

Player statistics

Regular season

2006–07 Cleveland Cavaliers season

Bron en licentie