LOS ANGELES (KRON) — The time has come.
Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors will take on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday in a Western Conference play-in tournament game.
Curry and James are used to meeting in the spring, but this time around — the stakes are a little different.
Instead of battling in the NBA Finals as they did in those good ‘ol Warriors-Cavaliers matchups, the superstars will be competing for a playoff spot.
This will be the 23rd postseason game between Curry and James. Golden State and Cleveland faced off in four straight NBA Finals from 2015-18.
The Dubs won the first of the three meetings against the Lakers in the regular season, but have lost the last two.
But Golden State’s solo victory against Los Angeles this season was at Staples Center — where they will play tonight.
Curry and the Warriors will see if the hype and momentum around them can continue after winning eight of their last nine games.
At 33, Curry this season became the oldest scoring champion since Michael Jordan did it at age 35 in 1998, averaging 32.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 63 games. That included 96 3s in April alone, an NBA record for a single month.
James has said Curry should be this year’s MVP.
“I don’t know anything else if you’re looking for an MVP. If Steph is not on Golden State’s team, what are we looking at? We get caught up in the records sometimes,” he said. “Steph has had, in my opinion, the best season all year.”
James, who is averaging 25.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.8 assists in 45 games, has played in only four games since originally suffering a sprained right ankle March 20.
The seventh-seeded Lakers will host the eighth-seeded Warriors at 7 p.m.
Be sure to follow KRON4 News on Twitter for live game updates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.