After 82 regular season games and three playoff rounds, the final two contenders left standing for the title are this season’s best team on one side and the world’s best player on the other.
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– INSIDE STORY: Stephen Curry’s journey to the MVP
The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers clash in the NBA Finals, which will see one of the teams lift the Larry O’Brien trophy for the first time in 40 years.
Golden State, who last played on basketball’s grandest stage and triumphed in 1975, are the heavy favourites entering the match-up.
They’ve consistently paced the NBA this year and finished atop the strong Western Conference with a league-best 67-15 record.
Throughout the postseason, the Warriors have shown little signs of letting up as they comfortably swept New Orleans in the first round before outlasting Memphis in six games and handling Houston in five.
The 40-year wait is almost over. #StrengthInNumbers https://t.co/Ucpp34vUNW
— Golden St. Warriors (@warriors) June 4, 2015
Stephen Curry has led the way with a team-high 29.2 points per game in the playoffs, raising both his scoring average and minutes from his MVP campaign.
Indeed, such has been the performance of the point guard, many NBA legends are beginning to consider him as the greatest shooter of all time.
Steve Nash said: “There are things he can do that I can’t. He’s such a beautiful shooter with such an array of shots and such a quick release, you wouldn’t want to take that away from him at all.”
While Curry has taken on even more responsibility scoring the ball, his foil on Cleveland, LeBron James, has had to do it all.
The four-time MVP will play in his fifth Finals – second with the Cavaliers – as he tries to bring the franchise their first championship and end the city’s 51-year drought.
Cleveland lost just two games through the first three rounds when they found themselves down 2-1 at the hands of Chicago in the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Other than that, however, the Cavaliers have cruised with sweeps against Boston to open the playoffs and then Atlanta to reach the Finals.
James is posting some of the best numbers of his career on the surface with 27.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 8.3 assists for near triple-double averages.
Yet, his high usage has hampered his efficiency and he’s shooting just 42.8 per cent from the field and a career-low 17.6 per cent on 3-pointers, while losing 4.4 turnovers per contest.
TOMORROW. Get ready for the start of the #NBAFinals with @KeyBank. #ALLinCLE https://t.co/ow60yJBPfC
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) June 4, 2015
Still, the two-time champion believes he’s at the top of his game right now.
“I think if you put it all together, yeah,” James said. “If you put everything together as far as my mind, my body, my game. If you put everything in one bottle, this is probably the best I’ve been.”
Unfortunately for Cleveland, they’re far from full strength with Kevin Love out for the playoffs and Kyrie Irving playing through multiple injuries.
Irving missed Game 2 and 3 in the Atlanta series, but came back for the clincher and scored 16 points in 22 minutes.
For Golden State, shooting guard Klay Thompson has been passed fit to play in Game 1 after his concussion in Game 5 against Houston.
