nagpur lebron versus steph king james versus the babyfaced assassin any way you slice it its a dream matchup for the league in the nba finals again lebron james and cleveland get a chance for revenge against the stephen curryled golden state in the nba finals starting on friday but the underdog cavaliers have the misfortune to face a warriors team seemingly peaking again at the right time had they met while curry was nursing an injury several weeks ago the cavaliers might have started as favorites for the bestofseven series but instead they will be big betting underdogs against a rejuvenated and largely healthy warriors lineup but at least it will be a fair fight this year the cavs were not quite a oneman team in last years championship series but without two of their big three in injured forward kevin love and guard kyrie irving they did well in some respects to take the series to six games with love and irving healthy this time around many basketball fans are salivating at the prospect of a classic series but the history of sport is replete with examples of events that promised much only to fail to live up to expectations but on paper at least it does have the potential to be a compelling series as james in his sixth consecutive nba finals including four with the miami heat tries to lift the cavs to their first championship and the fact the cavs are about a 21 underdog means nothing to james not my concern james said i dont get involved in all of that underdog overdog whatever the case may be its stupidity were better built to start the finals than we were last year a second straight championship showdown between lebron james and stephen curry puts the leagues two brightest stars on its biggest stage it could also mark the beginnings of a new rivalry between the longtime face of the league and the shooting supernova threatening to supplant him its really annoying for me thats not what im playing for to be the face of the nba or to be this or that or to take lebrons throne or whatever curry said on thursday one day before the warriors host the cavs in game 1 you know im trying to chase rings and thats what im all about so thats where the conversation stops for me games one friday and two monday will be played in oakland california with the next two games shifting to cleveland june 9 and 11 if necessary game 5 will be back in oakland on june 14 game six in cleveland on june 17 and game seven in oakland on june 20 2016 nba finals by the numbers14 this series marks the 14th time in nba history that the same teams are meeting in the finals in consecutive seasons6 clevelands lebron james is set to play in his sixth straight finals the first player to do so