The 2006–07 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 37th season of NBA basketball in Cleveland, Ohio. 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 had the fourth best team defensive rating in the NBA. Prior to making their first NBA Finals appearance, in the playoffs, the Cavaliers swept the Washington Wizards in four games in the First Round, defeated the New Jersey Nets in six games in the semifinals, and defeated the Detroit Pistons in six games in the conference finals. However, in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers would collapse, as they were swept by the more experienced San Antonio Spurs in four games. LeBron James was the team's leading scorer and finished in 5th place in league MVP voting. The Cavaliers would not make it back to the Finals until 2015, when James returned to the team after a four year tenure with the Miami Heat.

Key Dates

Offseason

Free agents

Trades

Draft picks

Roster

Player salaries

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

20,562 18,797 19,147 20,562 19,947 20,562 18,468 20,096 20,562 20,173 20,562 19,800 18,165 20,562 20,192 19,650 18,260 20,119 20,562 19,164 20,562 20,562 17,451 17,270 20,562 20,562 19,467 20,562 22,965 20,214 18,624 18,717 20,562 17,317 18,422 20,027 15,619 19,228 19,155 19,864 20,562 20,562 19,523 20,562 19,443 20,125 20,562 20,140 20,129 20,562 20,562 19,911 18,997 19,800 20,562 20,255 19,619 20,428 20,562 20,562 22,076 18,081 20,562 20,562 14,561 20,562 17,043 20,562 20,562 20,562 14,024 19,763 22,960 17,204 16,118 20,562 20,173 22,076 20,562 20,562 17,693 20,562

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.

Eastern Finals

In a rematch of last year's thrilling 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

Playoffs

Awards and records

Awards

Records

Milestones

All-Star

Transactions

Trades

The Cavaliers did not make a trade during the 2006–07 NBA season.

Free agents

The Cavaliers did not sign any free agents during the 2006–07 NBA season.

Development League