The Golden State Warriors As 2017 NBA Champions

This past NBA season will be remembered not for the hard-fought duels but for the unrelenting excellence of the Golden State Warriors. After barreling through the opening rounds of the playoffs without losing a game, the sweet-shooting Warriors met the Cleveland Cavaliers in the title bout for the third consecutive year. On June 12, Golden State avenged last year’s loss to LeBron James and Co. with a 129-120 win: Stephen Curry scored 34 points, and Kevin Durant was named Finals MVP, having averaged 35.2 points for the series en route to the first title of his storied career. Golden State’s 16-1 postseason record is the best in NBA history.

This appears in the June 26, 2017 issue of TIME.

Subscribe to TIME

Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.

Please enter a valid email address.

* The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again.

Sign Up Now

An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later.

Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME.

You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you!

For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Write to Sean Gregory at sean.gregory@time.com.