With a win over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers secured a spot in the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive year.They will now face the Golden State Warriors for the fourth straight season after they saw off the Houston Rockets and were crowned champions of the west yet again.As favourites to win back-to-back titles, the defending champions were expected to make it back to the finals but the same can't be said of the Cavs.After a campaign filled with turmoil that ended with them finishing with the fourth seed in the east, Cleveland's streak was in real jeopardy as their rivals in the east sensed that they were there for the taking.This was evident in round one as the Indiana Pacers gave them a huge fright by taking them all the way to seven games.Thanks to a stunning series by LeBron James, however, they managed to survive that scare.The top-seeded Toronto Raptors followed and they believed they could finally end their losing run against the Cavaliers and dethrone the King.But James once again had his way with the Raptors as the Wine and Gold eliminated them for the third year running and completed a second consecutive sweep.The last hope was with the Celtics and things were looking good as they took a 2-0 lead in the series and then a 3-2 advantage after Game 5.LeBron was a man on a mission, though, and produced two outstanding games to lead his hometown team past Boston and into another finals.

The three-time champion has deservedly taken all the plaudits and this has been regarded by some as his greatest ever achievement because of his supporting cast.

His teammates have taken a real bashing throughout the playoffs for not giving LBJ the necessary help.

But they have finally received some praise and it's come from an unlikely source.

Upcoming Finals opponent Stephen Curry believes that the Cavs role players deserve a lot more credit for what they've achieved.

“I hate when people say that,” Curry said, per USA Today. “Like it’s — they’re NBA players, and yeah they’re new and what-not and ‘Bron is amazing, he played an unbelievable playoff run to date and has willed his team to his eighth straight Finals and all that, which is unbelievable to think about the consistency and the longevity and just the level of greatness that he’s shown in the Eastern Conference.”

“As a basketball fan, to turn on the TV last night and watch the game, and there were points in the game where you didn’t know how it was going to play out and they found a way to get it done, so shout-out to him.

"It was an amazing performance, but don’t disrespect the other guys out there. They fought hard too.”

It'll be interesting to see if they can provide enough support for James against Curry and co. as they will go in as severe underdogs despite having the best player in the world.

You'll be hard-pressed to find anybody backing the Ohio-based franchise to beat the Warriors but anything is possible when you have LeBron on your side.

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