2006–07 Cleveland Cavaliers season

NBA professional basketball team season March 2026 August 2023 yes Cleveland Cavaliers 2007 50 32 Central 2 2 Mike Brown Danny Ferry Dan Gilbert Quicken Loans Arena NBA Finals(lost to Spurs 0–4) CLE Fox Sports OhioWUAB WTAM thumb|right|180px|LeBron James led the Cavaliers to their first Eastern Conference championship. The 2006–07 Cleveland Cavaliers season was the 37th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). 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 were recorded as having the fourth best team defensive rating in the NBA.https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/defense/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1&Season=2006-07&SeasonType=Regular%20Season Teams Defense NBA.com April 17, 2021 The Cavaliers clinched their playoff berth for the second consecutive season since the 2005–06 season and their second time since the 1997–98 season. In the playoffs, the Cavaliers swept the Washington Wizards in four games in the First Round, then defeated the New Jersey Nets in six games in the Semi-finals, before finally defeating the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in six games in the conference finals, advancing to their first ever NBA Finals. However, in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers were defeated by the more experienced San Antonio Spurs in four games. James was the team's leading scorer and finished in 5th place in league MVP voting. The Cavaliers would not return to the Finals until 2015, when James returned to the team after a four year tenure with the Miami Heat. Key Dates On June 28, the 2006 NBA draft took place in New York City. In July, the free agency period began. On October 10, the Cavaliers' preseason began with a 93–109 loss to the Boston Celtics. On November 1, the Cavaliers' regular season began with a 97–94 win over the Washington Wizards. On March 27, the Cavaliers clinched a playoff berth. On June 2, the Cavaliers won their first ever Eastern Conference championship. On June 14, the Cavaliers' season ended in an NBA Finals sweep to the San Antonio Spurs. Offseason Free agents + AdditionsPlayer Date Former team Scot Pollard August 18 Indiana Pacers David Wesley September 5 Houston Rockets+ SubtractionsPlayer Date New team Flip Murray July 18 Detroit Pistons Stephen Graham August 9 Portland Trail Blazers Alan Henderson September 8 Philadelphia 76ers Eddie Basden November Fenerbahçe Trades August 18, 2006 To Cleveland Cavaliers Eddie Basden To Chicago Bulls Martynas Andriuskevicius October 13, 2006 To Cleveland Cavaliers Dwayne Jones To Boston Celtics Luke Jackson and cash considerations Draft picks 2006 NBA draft Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 25 Shannon Brown Guard United States Michigan State 2 42* Daniel Gibson Guard United States Texas 2 55 Ejike Ugboaja Forward Union Bank Lagos (Nigeria) *2nd round pick acquired from Philadelphia in Lee Nailon deal.Conditional 2nd round pick traded to Philadelphia for Lee Nailon and a 2006 2nd round pick https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/76ers-deal-nailon-to-cavaliers-1.580984 Roster Cleveland Cavaliers 2006–07 6 Shannon Brown G 6 4 205 1985-11-29 Michigan State 1 Daniel Gibson G 6 2 190 1986-02-27 Texas 90 Drew Gooden basketball F 6 10 250 1981-09-24 Kansas 32 Larry Hughes G 6 5 214 1979-01-23 St. Louis 11 Zydrunas Ilgauskas C 7 3 260 1975-06-05 Lithuania 23 LeBron James F 6 9 240 1984-12-30 St. Vincent–St. Mary HS (OH) 19 Damon Jones G 6 3 190 1976-08-25 Houston 27 Dwayne Jones basketball F 6 11 251 1983-06-09 St. Joseph's 24 Donyell Marshall F 6 9 230 1973-05-18 Connecticut 14 Ira Newble F 6 7 220 1975-01-20 Miami (OH) 3 Aleksandar Pavlović basketball G 6 7 210 1983-11-15 Serbia 31 Scot Pollard C 6 11 265 1975-02-12 Kansas 20 Eric Snow G 6 3 205 1973-04-24 Michigan State 17 Anderson Varejão C 6 10 240 1982-09-28 Brazil 4 David Wesley G 6 1 203 1970-11-14 Baylor Mike Brown Hank Egan Melvin Hunt Chris Jent John Kuester Kenny Natt Michael Malone https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CLE/2007.html March 26, 2007 Player salaries Rank Player Salary 1 Larry Hughes$13,363,012 2 Zydrunas Ilgauskas $9,422,697 3 Drew Gooden $6,645,402 4 LeBron James $6,128,090 5 Eric Snow $6,093,750 6 Donyell Marshall $5,633,037 7 Damon Jones $3,884,678 8 Ira Newble $3,196,050 9 Scot Pollard $2,200,000 10 Sasha Pavlović $1,962,206 11 David Wesley $1,750,000 12 Shannon Brown $971,280 13 Anderson Varejão $945,600 14 Dwayne Jones $664,209 15 Daniel Gibson $412,718 Regular season Season standings CLE CLE Playoffs 2007 NBA Playoffs Game log Cleveland Cavaliers yes 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers First Round yes yes no 2 0 2 0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | April 22 | Washington | W 97–82 | Larry Hughes (27) | Anderson Varejão (10) | LeBron James (7) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 2 | April 25 | Washington | W 109–102 | LeBron James (27) | Drew Gooden (14) | LeBron James (7) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 2–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 3 | April 28 | @ Washington | W 98–92 | LeBron James (30) | Drew Gooden (12) | LeBron James (9) | Verizon Center20,173 | 3–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 4 | April 30 | @ Washington | W 97–90 | LeBron James (31) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (19) | LeBron James (7) | Verizon Center20,173 | 4–0 |- Cleveland Cavaliers Conference Semifinals yes no 2 1 2 1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 1 | May 6 | New Jersey | W 81–77 | LeBron James (21) | Gooden, Ilgauskas (14) | LeBron James (7) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 1–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 2 | May 8 | New Jersey | W 102–92 | LeBron James (36) | Drew Gooden (14) | LeBron James (12) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 2–0 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | May 12 | @ New Jersey | L 85–96 | Larry Hughes (23) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (8) | LeBron James (12) | Continental Airlines Arena20,032 | 2–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 4 | May 14 | @ New Jersey | W 87–85 | LeBron James (30) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (11) | LeBron James (7) | Continental Airlines Arena20,032 | 3–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 5 | May 16 | New Jersey | L 72–83 | LeBron James (20) | LeBron James (9) | LeBron James (5) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 3–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 6 | May 18 | @ New Jersey | W 88–72 | LeBron James (23) | LeBron James (8) | LeBron James (8) | Continental Airlines Arena20,032 | 4–2 |- Cleveland Cavaliers Conference Finals yes no 3 0 1 2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 | May 21 | @ Detroit | L 76–79 | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (22) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (13) | LeBron James (9) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | May 24 | @ Detroit | L 76–79 | LeBron James (19) | Anderson Varejão (14) | LeBron James (7) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 0–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 3 | May 27 | Detroit | W 88–82 | LeBron James (32) | LeBron James (9) | LeBron James (9) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 1–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 4 | May 29 | Detroit | W 91–87 | LeBron James (25) | Drew Gooden (8) | LeBron James (11) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 2–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 5 | May 31 | @ Detroit | W 109–107 (2OT) | LeBron James (48) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (16) | LeBron James (7) | The Palace of Auburn Hills22,076 | 3–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 6 | June 2 | Detroit | W 98–82 | Daniel Gibson (31) | LeBron James (14) | LeBron James (8) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 4–2 |- Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Finals yes no 0 2 0 2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 | June 7 | @ San Antonio | L 76–85 | Daniel Gibson (16) | LeBron James (7) | James, Gibson (4) | AT&T Center18,797 | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | June 10 | @ San Antonio | L 92–103 | LeBron James (25) | Anderson Varejão (10) | LeBron James (6) | AT&T Center18,797 | 0–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | June 12 | San Antonio | L 72–75 | LeBron James (25) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (18) | LeBron James (7) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 0–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 4 | June 14 | San Antonio | L 82–83 | LeBron James (24) | Zydrunas Ilgauskas (13) | LeBron James (10) | Quicken Loans Arena20,562 | 0–4 |- CLE yes 2007 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.ESPN.com Recap: Nets VS. Celtics, April 20, 2005ESPN.com Recap: Cavaliers VS. Raptors, April 20, 2005 Eastern Finals In a rematch of last year's 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 2007 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. #eee June 7 9:00 p.m. ET 1 Cleveland Cavaliers 76 85 San Antonio Spurs 15–20 20–20 14–24 27–21 Gibson 16 Parker 27 James 7 Duncan 13 James, Gibson 4 each Tony Parker 7 TOs: LeBron James 6 Blocks: Tim Duncan 5 AT&T Center, San Antonio 18,797 Ken Mauer, Mike Callahan, Steve Javie ABC, ABCHD, TSN, Canal 7, Canal+, ESPN Brasil 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. #eee June 10 9:00 p.m. ET 2 Cleveland Cavaliers 92 103 San Antonio Spurs 17–28 16–30 29–31 30–14 LeBron James 25 Tony Parker 30 Anderson Varejão 10 Duncan, Horry 9 each LeBron James 6 Tim Duncan 8 TOs: LeBron James 6 Blocks: Robert Horry 5 AT&T Center, San Antonio 18,797 Dick Bavetta, Jim Clark, Joe Derosa ABC, ABCHD, TSN, Canal 7, Canal+, ESPN Brasil 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. #eee June 12 9:00 p.m. ET 3 San Antonio Spurs 75 Cleveland Cavaliers 72 16–18 24–20 15–12 20–22 Tony Parker 17 LeBron James 25 Duncan, Bowen 9 each Ilgauskas 18 Manu Ginóbili 5 LeBron James 7 Stls: Michael Finley 4 TOs: LeBron James 5 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland 20,562 Bernie Fryer, Bob Delaney, Dan Crawford San Antonio leads series 3-0 ABC, ABCHD, TSN, Canal 7, Canal+, ESPN Brasil 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. #eee June 14 9:00 p.m. ET 4 San Antonio Spurs 83 82 Cleveland Cavaliers 19–20 20–14 21–18 22–27 Manu Ginóbili 27 LeBron James 24 Tim Duncan 15 Ilgauskas 13 Manu Ginóbili 5 LeBron James 10 TOs: Tim Duncan 6 TOs: LeBron James 6 Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland 20,562 Bennett Salvatore, Joe Forte, Eddie F. Rush San Antonio wins series 4–0 ABC, ABCHD, TSN, Canal 7, Canal+, ESPN Brasil, Sport 1 Player statistics Regular season PlayerGPGSMPGFG%FT%3P%SPGBPGAPGRPGPPGLeBron James 78 78 40.9 47.6% 69.8% 31.9% 1.60 .71 6.0 6.7 27.3Larry Hughes 70 68 37.1 40.0% 67.6% 33.3% 1.27 .37 3.7 3.8 14.9Zydrunas Ilgauskas 78 78 27.3 45.5% 80.7% 0.0% .62 1.26 1.6 7.7 11.9Drew Gooden 80 80 28.0 47.3% 71.4% 16.7% .88 .35 1.1 8.5 11.1Sasha Pavlović 67 28 22.9 45.3% 79.4% 40.5% .82 .25 1.6 2.4 9.0Donyell Marshall 81 0 16.8 42.4% 66.3% 35.1% .48 .53 .6 4.0 7.0Anderson Varejão 81 6 21.9 47.6% 61.6% 0.0% .94 .64 .9 6.7 6.8Damon Jones 60 0 19.6 38.6% 68.2% 38.5% .27 .03 1.6 1.1 6.6Daniel Gibson 60 16 16.5 42.4% 71.8% 41.9% .38 .13 1.2 1.5 4.6Eric Snow 82 45 23.5 41.7% 63.7% 0.0% .67 .20 4.0 2.3 4.2Shannon Brown 23 5 8.8 37.8% 71.4% 28.0% .30 .13 .4 .9 3.2Ira Newble 15 1 8.6 43.2% 60.6% 53.3% .40 .00 .1 2.0 3.1David Wesley 35 5 10.1 29.3% 79.4% 23.7% .34 .11 1.1 1.0 2.1Scot Pollard 24 0 4.5 42.3% 50.0% 0.0% .17 .04 .1 1.3 1.0Dwayne Jones 4 0 4.5 0.0% 50.0% 0.0% .00 .00 .0 1.5 .8 Playoffs PlayerGPGSMPGFG%FT%3P%SPGBPGAPGRPGPPGLeBron James 20 20 44.7 41.6% 75.5% 28.0% 1.70 .50 8.0 8.1 25.1Zydrunas Ilgauskas 20 20 32.5 49.2% 83.8% 0.0% .45 .80 .9 9.7 12.6Drew Gooden 20 20 30.3 49.3% 76.9% 0.0% .50 .45 1.0 8.0 11.4Larry Hughes 18 18 35.5 34.7% 74.6% 35.2% 1.39 .44 2.4 3.9 11.3Sasha Pavlović 20 20 30.8 38.1% 52.8% 34.5% .95 .25 1.6 2.6 9.2Daniel Gibson 20 2 20.1 43.1% 88.4% 40.9% .60 .20 1.1 1.6 8.3Anderson Varejão 20 0 22.4 51.1% 56.3% 0.0% 1.05 .55 .6 6.0 6.0Donyell Marshall 19 0 10.7 33.3% 63.6% 31.1% .16 .21 .3 2.2 3.5Damon Jones 11 0 12.6 30.8% 1.000% 31.8% .00 .00 1.0 .8 2.4Eric Snow 19 0 12.8 31.6% 57.1% 0.0% .58 .11 1.5 1.5 1.7Ira Newble 6 0 1.7 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% .00 .00 .2 .2 0.0Scot Pollard 3 0 1.0 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% .00 .00 .0 0.0 0.0Shannon Brown 1 0 1.0 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% .00 .00 .0 0.0 0.0 Awards and records Awards LeBron James was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from November 13 through November 19. LeBron James was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from March 5 through March 11. LeBron James was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for the month of March, the fifth time he has won the award. After the season, LeBron James was named to the All-NBA second team as a forward. Records On November 25, Zydrunas Ilgauskas tied a franchise record for offensive rebounds in a half (10) and in a game (12) in the Cavs' 108–95 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. On December 6, Zydrunas Ilgauskas became the all-time offensive rebound leader in Cavs history in a 95–91 win over the Toronto Raptors. In Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, LeBron James set or tied franchise playoff records for: points in a game (48), points in overtime (9), field goals made and attempted in a game (18, 33) and field goals made in overtime (4). In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals, Daniel Gibson set or tied franchise playoff records for: points in a quarter (19), points in a half (25), rookie points in a game (31) and three-pointers in a half (5). With his 19th playoff win, coach Mike Brown set the franchise record for playoff victories. Milestones On December 23, LeBron James became the youngest player in NBA history to score 7,000 career points (21 years, 359 days). In the 2006–07 season, the Cavaliers swept all four California teams for the first time in team history (Golden State, Sacramento, LA Lakers, LA Clippers) On March 14, LeBron James became the youngest player in NBA history to score 8,000 career points (22 years, 74 days). On April 6, LeBron James became the 2nd fastest player to record 8,000 points, 2,000 rebounds and 2,000 assists in a career. LeBron did it in 311 games while it took Oscar Robertson 269 games and Michael Jordan 339. On April 14, the Cavaliers played the 3,000th game in franchise history All-Star LeBron James led all players in votes received and was voted in as a starter for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game. His 2,516,049 votes were the second most in NBA history. He became the first player in team history to lead the league in votes. LeBron James led the Eastern Conference All-Stars with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in the 132–153 loss. Damon Jones participated in the Three Point Contest and finished in 5th place. LeBron James participated in the Skills Challenge and finished in 3rd place. 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 On March 2, Shannon Brown was assigned to the NBDL's Albuquerque Thunderbirds. On March 3, Shannon Brown was recalled from the Thunderbirds. On March 23, Dwayne Jones was assigned to the Thunderbirds. On March 27, Dwayne Jones was recalled from the Thunderbirds. References Cleveland Cavaliers on Database Basketball Cleveland Cavaliers on Basketball Reference 2006–07 Season Media Guide External links YWVMdIrRCX4 2006–07 Cavaliers Tribute Category:Cleveland Cavaliers seasons Cleveland Category:Eastern Conference (NBA) championship seasons Cleve Cleve