The time has come for LeBron James and Stephen Curry to let their games do the talking in a face to face battle against one another that shapes up as a showdown for the ages.

Golden State vs. Cleveland, the Sequel

For the second straight season, the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers have punched their tickets for the NBA Finals otherwise quickly becoming known as the James vs. Curry early summer showcase.

The stakes were recently raised even a bit more after James took a shot at the two-time reigning MVP and his most recent selection as the league's first unanimous most valuable player.

A four-time winner of the award, James marked Curry's history-making feat by questioning the validity of him being designated for such distinction, prompting Curry to hint at how adept he's gotten at ignoring James and all the other critics like him.

Come Thursday night and Game 1's head to head collision, the luxury of that kind of avoidance will no longer be an option. The two may not be matched up against one another all the time, every play, but they'll definitely have their fingerprints on everything their team is trying to do.

Series Breakdown

Here's a breakdown of how you can expect it all to play out.

Center: Andre Bogut vs. Tristan Thompson- Bogut doesn't always get the credit he deserves for doing a lot of the dirty work for the Warriors. In the case of Thompson, it's a matter of which version of him shows up, the rebounding machine he can be or the guy you can forget is even on the floor.

Advantage: Cavs.

Power forward: Draymond Green vs. Kevin Love- In what could be the X-factor matchup of the entire series, Green's versatility rates an edge over Love's scatterbrain nature.

Advantage: Warriors.

Small Forward: LeBron James vs. Harrison Barnes- Under any circumstances, James easily wins the matchup, but being as driven and focused as he is these days is puts his edge off the charts.

Advantage: Cavs, by a landslide.

Shooting guard: J.R. Smith vs. Klay Thompson: Smith's stifling defense has been a godsend for Cleveland throughout the postseason, but he hasn't had an encounter quite like what he can expect from the sharpshooting Thompson.

Advantage: Warriors.

Point Guard: Kyrie Irving vs. Stephen Curry: As NBA marquee match-ups go, this one ranks at the top of the food chain. But Curry is Curry, and there is no one else quite like him.

Advantage: Warriors.

Reserves: Golden State's posse of Andre Iguodala, Shawn Livingston and Festus Ezeli rates a slight edge over Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye and Matthew Dellavedova.

Advantage: Warriors.

Prediction: Golden State in 7.

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