Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland reacts in-game. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
In the mid-2000s, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a rivalry with the Boston Celtics. That rivalry was most on display in Game 7 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Semifinals where LeBron James and Paul Pierce were locked in a scoring battle. But after James left in the summer of 2010, that rivalry dissipated and disappeared.
Then from 2015-2018, Cleveland developed a rivalry with the Golden State Warriors. In this rivalry, the two teams met four times in the NBA Finals. The Warriors ultimately won the series by a score of 3-1 (although it should’ve been 2-2 if Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving were healthy in 2015).