NBA Finals 2017: 11 stats to pique your interest

The NBA Finals begin Thursday in Oakland where the Cavaliers take on the Warriors. It's the third consecutive NBA Finals featuring the two teams (more on that in a moment). Here's a quick look at some of the interesting facts about the two teams and some of their star players, put together by Opta, the world's leading sports data provider.

— The Warriors enter the Finals with a perfect 12-0 record this postseason, the first team to accomplish that feat since the NBA switched to its current playoff format in 2003. The 1988-89 and 2000-01 Lakers entered the NBA Finals undefeated, with 11-0 records.

— This is the fourth time the Cavaliers have reached the NBA Finals, but all have come in the past decade. They defeated the Warriors last season after losing their first two appearances (2007 and '15 NBA Finals).

— This is the first time in league history the same two teams have faced off in three consecutive NBA Finals. Should Cleveland win, it would be the 12th time in NBA history that a team has won consecutive NBA titles, the first time since the Lakers did it in 2009-10.

— Cleveland and Golden State have met 19 times since the start of the 2014-15 regular season, including their two NBA Finals matchups. Golden State has won 11 of those 19 games, outscoring Cleveland by an average of 103.6-97.3 in those games. The teams split the two regular-season games this season, with the home team winning both times.

— Kevin Durant (28.4 points per game) and LeBron James (28.3 ppg) rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in NBA playoff history in playoff scoring average.

Rank, Player, PPG

1. Michael Jordan, 33.45 2. Allen Iverson, 29.73 3. Jerry West, 29.13 4. Kevin Durant, 28.44 5. LeBron James, 28.28

*Minimum 25 games or 625 points scored

— James enters this series with 1,079 points in the Finals, good for seventh on the all-time Finals scoring list. With 239 points in this series, however, he can climb to second place all-time, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,317), Michael Jordan (1,176), Elgin Baylor (1,161), Bill Russell (1,151) and Sam Jones (1,143). James would need average just more than 34 points per game in a seven-game series to hit 239. James just passed Jordan for the most points in playoff history with 5,995.

Rank, Player, Finals Points / Points LeBron Trails By

1. Jerry West, 1,679 / 600 2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1,317 / 238 3, Michael Jordan, 1,176 / 97 4. Elgin Baylor, 1,161 / 82 5. Bill Russell, 1,151 / 72 6. Sam Jones, 1,143 / 64 7. LeBron James, 1,079

— James (68) and Stephen Curry (57) rank first and second, respectively, in NBA Finals history in 3-pointers made.

— The Warriors (118.3) and Cavaliers (116.8) rank first and second in the playoffs in points scored per game. No other team is averaging more than 109 points.

— The Cavaliers hit 1,067 3-pointers in the 2016-17 regular season, the third-most in NBA history. They are also were only the third team in league history to hit more than 1,000 3-pointers in a single season (2015-16 Warriors, 2016-17 Rockets). Cleveland (38.4 percent) and Golden State (38.3 percent) finished the regular season with the sixth- and seventh-best 3-point percentages for a team in a single season (min. 2,000 3-pointers attempted).

— The Cavaliers have hit 43.5 percent of their 3-point attempts this postseason, 0.1 percent behind the 2004-05 Suns for the best percentage in a single postseason. Their 190 3-point makes also are the eighth-most in a single postseason.

Rank, Team, 3P% (3PM/3PA)

1. 2005 Suns 43.6% (129/396) 2. 2017 Cavaliers 43.5% (190/437) 3. 1996 Jazz 42.8% (98/229) 4. 2012 Spurs 41.6% (132/317) 5. 2014 Spurs 40.9% (203/496)

— Golden State finished with 67 wins in the 2016-17 regular season, tied for the seventh-most in NBA history. The Warriors are the first team in league history to win 64 or more games in three consecutive seasons.