Golden State Warriors take on Cleveland Cavaliers in NBA Finals

On Thursday, LeBron James and Steph Curry battle it out once again for an NBA ring. Last year, Curry's Golden State Warriors beat James' Cleveland Cavaliers 4-2 in a cracking contest, and this year promises to be equally fun. Our resident US sportswriter Alex Ferguson has your preview….

How do the NBA Finals work?

It's a best-of-seven series, which means the first to four wins will claim the 2016 NBA Championship.

The team with home court advantage should the series go to a final game (which we are all hoping it will) is Golden State, thanks to their record-breaking regular season record.

If it goes that far, the seven games will be spread over 17 days, which adds recovery time (as well non-stop commentary, we should think!).

Who won the last time they met?

Golden State won both regular season games, one by six points and one by 132-98, in which Warriors coach Steve Kerr refused to call the dogs off… or LeBron and team stopped playing. You decide which.

You know LeBron will be thirsting for revenge, while Curry & Co will be equally excited about continuing the dethroning of 'King James'.

Who are the Warriors' key men?

Steph Curry and Klay Thompson basically wiped away the Oklahoma City Thunder's hopes of a Game 7 victory in the Western Conference Finals by blitzing them with three-pointers in the third quarter, winning the period 29-12.

They hit SEVENTEEN in total. Oh, and Draymond Green is going to be defensively powerful, as will Andre Iguodala. But the biggest weapon for the Warriors isn't exactly defence - it is punishing teams that miss. Because the Warriors don't miss very often, and when they are hot, they are scalding.

And the for the Cavaliers?

For Cleveland, it's not only LeBron's world. JR Smith, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving - have both been models of efficiency, and will have to do the same to the Warriors. We know what damage they can do from three-point range.

James and Love will both be key defensively - as will Tristan Thompson. All of them will not only have to negate three-pointers being thrown from Curry and Thompson, but also Green in the paint. And as we've seen with Green, he doesn't play very nicely, either.

Another key point is that Irving and Love will be available for the Cavs. Irving only played in Game 1 of the Finals last year while Love missed out entirely - and both were sorely missed.

Why will Golden State win again?

Because after struggling in the first half against Oklahoma City, the Warriors found their mojo and were virtually untouchable.

That mojo is going to continue and James & Co may be unable to deal with it. Love and Irving might be consistent at the moment, but they won't have played under quite the pressure that they will when they face Golden State's offence.

Can Cleveland win?

First of all, Cleveland has got the thirst. They have lost the last four games to Golden State - including two in the NBA Finals - and the last one was an absolute rout.

Say what you want about Curry, LeBron's still the best all-round player in the game from both ends of the court.

The Cavs have a three-headed monster in James, Love and Irving that lost two straight at Toronto after looking like they would cruise to a 4-0 victory, and then rebounded to win the next two.

They have also got Smith, who is shooting as well as any Splash Brother at the moment - he leads all players in NBA three-point efficiency during the play-offs - and they can play defence.

OK, so who will win?

I am going to go for Cleveland in six games, setting up a great rivalry! Cleveland are a 7/4 underdog, by the way - and Golden State a massive 4/9 favourite.