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NBA Finals 2016 schedule: Golden State Warriors advance for championship rematch with Cleveland Cavaliers

After coming back to win the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors will return to the NBA Finals for a rematch against the Cavs. The series will begin on Thursday at Oracle Arena.

Jason Miller/Getty Images

Having beaten the Oklahoma City Thunder in a thrilling seven-game 2016 Western Conference Finals series, the Golden State Warriors will advance to their second consecutive NBA Finals series for a highly-anticipated rematch with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The championship series will begin with the Warriors hosting the Cavs at Oracle Arena on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Game

Date

Location

TV Network

Streaming

Time (PST)

Game 1

Thursday, June 2

Oracle Arena -€” Oakland, CA

ABC

WatchESPN

6 p.m.

Game 2

Sunday, June 5

Oracle Arena -€” Oakland, CA

ABC

WatchESPN

5 p.m.

Game 3

Wednesday, June 8

Quicken Loans Arena — Cleveland, OH

ABC

WatchESPN

6 p.m.

Game 4

Friday, June 10

Quicken Loans Arena — Cleveland, OH

ABC

WatchESPN

6 p.m.

Game 5*

Monday, June 13

Oracle Arena -€” Oakland, CA

ABC

WatchESPN

6 p.m.

Game 6*

Thursday, June 16

Quicken Loans Arena — Cleveland, OH

ABC

WatchESPN

6 p.m.

Game 7*

Sunday, June 19

Oracle Arena -€” Oakland, CA

ABC

WatchESPN

6 p.m.

*If necessary

The Warriors beat the Cavs in both of their regular season meetings this season, playing a close game on Christmas Day before blowing them out in Cleveland on January 18. However, Golden State would be wise to learn from their series against Oklahoma City, who they also swept during the regular season: after firing head coach David Blatt and promoting Tyronn Lue, Cleveland seems to have figured out a few things since January that could make them a more formidable opponent than they were in previous meetings. If nothing else, adding stretchy big man Channing Frye at the trade deadline will provide them with better spacing than they had before.

Of course, the big thing everyone will be talking about is how the Cavs will have both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love available this year after losing both of them to injury during last year's postseason. We'll be diving into that and more leading up to Game 1, but for now we'll take early predictions: who do you think will win the series and in how many games?

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