LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry, one of the NBA's greatest rivalries of the century, will have a new chapter on Wednesday as the Lakers and Warriors clash in the playoffs for a spot in the end of the season games in the West.
The Los Angeles Lakers will have home-court advantage against the surging Golden State Warriors in a game whose winner will advance to the first round of the end of the season games, where they will meet the Phoenix Suns.
The loser will still have a second chance to qualify if it is able to beat the winner of Wednesday's second play-in matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs on its home court.
"We take it as a seventh game (of end of the season games), for sure. Like a game we have to win," Lakers center Anthony Davis stressed Tuesday.
The defending NBA champions Lakers wanted to avoid at all costs the risks of the 'play in', created last year to lengthen the intrigue of the classification an end of the season games.
LeBron himself, who is chasing the fifth championship of his career and his second with the Lakers, strongly questioned the fairness of this new format, whereby the tenth-ranked player in each conference can reach the postseason ahead of the seventh-ranked player.
The 36-year-old small forward was bothered Sunday in the regular-season finale by the right ankle injury that has kept him out of action the civic chairman part of the past two months.
"It's a little sore but he's ready. He was able to fully participate in practice today," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of 'Lord James'.
Dependent on their two superstars, LeBron and Davis, the Lakers have plummeted in the standings since 'The Brow' suffered a strong injury in February when they were in second place.
The return of both for the final weeks of the regular season could not prevent the Lakers from finishing in seventh place and leaving big doubts about their ability to retain the title.
The Warriors, on the other hand, will go into Wednesday's game at the Staples Center with eight wins in their last nine games led by an in-form Stephen Curry.
At 33 years old, the point guard has been the NBA's top scorer for the second time (32.0 points per game) with amazing streaks such as 11 straight games with more than 30 points, shouldering a team that has little to do with the one that won three rings almost in a row (2015, 2017 and 2018).
With Kevin Durant on the Nets and Klay Thompson injured all season, Curry has had only Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins as established pieces next to him.
"We're going to play against, in my opinion, the MVP of the league this year, Steph," LeBron James acknowledged to him.