EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — As LeBron James and Stephen Curry prepare to renew a longstanding rivalry, Lakers coach Darvin Ham emphasized Monday just how special that rivalry is.
“It's the best rivalry of this generation,” Ham said. “LeBron, what he was able to do, [going] to [eight] straight Finals and obviously Steph and those guys, what they were able to do with those four championships. That's the rivalry. Rivalry of the generations, particularly those two players.”
This will be the fifth time Curry and James have tangled in the playoffs and the first since James signed with the Lakers. In 2015, the Warriors faced the Cavaliers, then led by James, for the first of four consecutive Finals matchups. Golden State won three of them. In 2016, James’s Cavs overcame a 3–1 deficit to upend the Warriors, tarnishing Golden State’s 73-win season and delivering Cleveland its first NBA championship.
