NBA playoff scores 2017: Another Cavaliers vs. Warriors NBA Finals seems as inevitable as ever

Cleveland and Golden State are blowing through the playoffs, just like everyone thought they would.

May 20, 2017, 12:00 PM UTC

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics - Game One

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After sweeping through the first and second rounds of their respective playoff bouts, both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors seem primed to make their third consecutive trips to the NBA Finals. It’ll be the first time in NBA history two teams have met each other in the Finals three times in a row.

And it was a conclusion many came to before the season even started.

When Kevin Durant opted to sign with the Golden State Warriors over the summer, a Cavs-Dubs three-match seemed inevitable. A team that posted the best record in NBA history had just added a former league MVP, and the Cavaliers were going to do all in their power to repeat as champions this year.

Cleveland did just that. The Cavs made deals for Kyle Korver and Deron Williams mid-season, adding even more firepower to a championship roster. And if you weren’t sold on how dominant this Cavaliers team could be, they blasted the Celtics in Game 2, leading by as much as 50 — yes, 50 — in a 44-point beatdown on Friday.

Now, we’re watching two teams make a mockery of their opponents as an undercard to the main event.

The Trail Blazers and Jazz are two tough teams in their own right. Portland made a late-season push for the West’s No. 8 seed after acquiring Jusuf Nurkic, and the Jazz have made strides toward NBA relevancy, steadily developing talent and infusing experienced veterans at the most opportune time.

As are the Pacers and Raptors, both of whom made the playoffs in the East after underwhelming regular seasons. Indiana may be powered by only Paul George, but the Raptors were tabbed as a team set to challenge the Cavaliers for the East’s throne, especially after picking up Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker at the trade deadline.

None of it mattered. Not the Trail Blazers, not the Jazz, not the Pacers and certainly not the Raptors.

Golden State and Cleveland blew past their first- and second-round opponents as if they didn’t exist. And now in the conference finals, against the next best the NBA has to offer, the the Warriors and Cavaliers are running circles around what’s left in the NBA.

This is what NBA fans feared when the debris settled in free agency.

The league isn’t rigged: Those claims have been dead for awhile. But the competitive balance the NBA sought in the new CBA went right out the window when Durant joined the Warriors over the summer and got stomped out after the Cavs finessed the system to add Korver and Williams.

The NBA isn’t boring. Russell Westbrook had one of the most incredible, entertaining seasons the league has seen in decades. James Harden looked like a walking maestro on the floor in Houston, and Kawhi Leonard teetered the line between human and robot.

But in the grand scheme of it all, this season has been a rinse, wash and repeat. The Warriors still blew past the competition and Cavaliers did the same.

And the scariest part of it all is that it could happen again next season. It probably will.