It’s Conference Finals Time!

The time has come for the 2015 NBA Eastern and Western Conference Championships! Both match-ups are between the one and two seeds, having the one seeded Atlanta Hawks take on the two-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the East and the top-ranked Golden State Warriors battling the second-ranked Houston Rockets.

All four teams haven’t won a championship since the 20th century, including the Cavs who have never hoisted the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. The Warriors haven’t seen the finals in 40 years, since their last trip in 1975 as the newly renamed Golden State Warriors. Houston, who are the most recent winners of the four, last played – and won – in 1995. The Atlanta Hawks have had the longest drought since winning their lone championship in 1958, although they came close to another victory in 1961. Then there is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Although LeBron James led them to the championship in 2007, the Cavs were swept by MVP Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs. After the 2010 season, James decided to take his talents to South Beach and won to back-to-back championships with the Miami Heat, but eventually returned to bring back a championship to his home state of Ohio. With the finals in sight again, LeBron, Kyrie Irving, Kendrick Perkins, J.R. Smith, without the help from injured Kevin Love, are pulling out all of the stops to finally call Cleveland the home of the NBA Champions.

With Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the Golden State Warriors have taken the advantage on the Rockets with a 110-106 win with the help from MVP Stephen Curry and a smaller than average lineup. The Warriors found themselves down by 16 in the second quarter but ended the first half on a 21-4 run and entered the locker room at halftime up by three. Runner up to Stephen Curry in the MVP race, James Harden held on with a near-triple double of 28 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists, but once center Dwight Howard left the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent knee injury, Harden continued to push off defeat. Eventually evening it up at 95, Steph Curry went out and proved why he was the MVP and continued to nail three pointers as the game eventually came to an end, sending the Warriors up with a 1-0 lead on the Rockets going into Game 2.

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals tips off today (5/20/15) at 8:30 PM EST, with coverage on TNT.