The Finals 2016 by the numbers
NEW YORK – The Golden State Warriors will meet the Cleveland Cavaliers when The Finals 2016 tips off in a rematch of last year’s championship on Thursday, June 2 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. The Warriors are looking to cap their historic 73-win regular season by keeping the Larry O’Brien Trophy in the Bay Area, while the Cavaliers are seeking to avenge their loss in last year’s Finals and bring home the franchise’s first championship.
Overall, The Finals will reach fans live in 215 countries and territories in 49 languages on their televisions, computers, mobile devices and tablets. Below is a look at The Finals 2016 By The Numbers:
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Golden State Warriors
- 14 – This series marks the 14th time in NBA history that the same teams are meeting in The Finals in consecutive seasons.
- 6 – Cleveland’s LeBron James is set to play in his sixth straight Finals, the first player to do so in 50 years. The other seven players to accomplish the feat played for the Boston Celtics: Bill Russell (10 straight Finals appearances), Tom Heinsohn (nine), Sam Jones (nine), K.C. Jones (eight), Frank Ramsey (eight), Bob Cousy (seven) and Satch Sanders (six).
- 1,077 – Golden State made an NBA-record 1,077 three-pointers this season, becoming the first team in league history to reach 1,000.
- 5 – Cleveland’s Tyronn Lue can become the fifth head coach over the last 60 years to win a title in his first season, joining Golden State’s Steve Kerr (2015), the Los Angeles Lakers’ Pat Riley (1982) and Paul Westhead (1980), and the Philadelphia Warriors’ George Senesky (1956).
- 8 – Eight players on NBA Finals 2016 rosters have NBA Development League experience (Cleveland: Dahntay Jones, Jordan McRae and Sasha Kaun; Golden State: Festus Ezeli, Shaun Livingston, James Michael McAdoo, Ian Clark and Kevon Looney).
- 2 – Golden State’s Steve Kerr is looking to become the second head coach in NBA history to win titles in each of his first two seasons. The only coach to do it is John Kundla, who won the 1949 and 1950 titles with the Minneapolis Lakers.
The Finals Spans the Globe
- 9 – Nine international players are on Finals rosters. The Cavaliers feature Matthew Dellavedova (Australia), Kyrie Irving (Australia), Sasha Kaun (Russia), Timofey Mozgov (Russia) and Tristan Thompson (Canada). The Warriors feature Leandro Barbosa (Brazil), Andrew Bogut (Australia), Festus Ezeli (Nigeria) and Anderson Varejao (Brazil).
- 1 – Golden State’s Anderson Varejao is the first player ever to play for both NBA finalists in the same season.
The Finals on ABC
- 11 – Mike Breen, the voice of the NBA Finals, will call the event for a record 11th consecutive time, the most by any play-by-play man.
- 10 – Jeff Van Gundy will call his record 10th NBA Finals, the most ever for a Finals TV game analyst.
- 15 – Basketball Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Hubie Brown will make NBA Finals broadcast history when he calls his 15th Finals (combination of radio and television), the most for any NBA commentator.
NBA Digital (NBA’s extensive cross-platform portfolio of digital assets jointly-managed by the NBA and Turner Sports)
- 11 – NBA TV’s Finals studio analysts have won a combined 11 NBA championships (Shaquille O’Neal: 4; Kenny Smith: 2; Isiah Thomas: 2; Brent Barry: 2; Steve Smith: 1).
- 90 – Live At The Finals, NBA TV’s 90-minute pregame show, will air each game day during The Finals.
- 5B – NBA.com and the NBA App achieved all-time traffic records during the 2015-16 regular season and 2016 playoffs, with 11.5 billion video views.
NBA Social Media
- 1B – This season, the NBA became the first professional sports league to surpass one billion social media likes and followers globally across all league, team and player platforms.
- 75M – LeBron James is the most followed NBA player on social media with nearly 75 million followers combined across Facebook (22.5 million), Twitter (31.2 million) and Instagram (21.2 million).
- 8B – The NBA set records across social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine, YouTube) this season with a combined 42.4 billion impressions.
- 7M – Last year’s Finals matchup generated more than seven million tweets from fans containing hashtag-triggered emojis. For The Finals 2016, Twitter will launch the following emojis:
- #NBAFinals – Larry O’Brien Trophy
- #ALLin216 – Cleveland Cavaliers logo
- #DuBNation – Golden State Warriors logo
NBA Cares
- 1,040 and 1,041– The East Oakland Pride Elementary School and Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland at John Adams High School will be the 1,040th and 1,041st places created through NBA Cares where kids and families can live, learn or play in 27 countries and territories.