Watch the Throne: LeBron James vs Stephen Curry

Will Stephen Curry’s rise lead to the fall of LeBron James?

- Kevin Arnovitz

He has marinated in a Finals loss for 193 days, and now LeBron James flies west from Cleveland on Christmas Eve to revisit the concrete bowl on the San Leandro Bay that’s home to everyone’s new favorite darlings, the Golden State Warriors. It’s the first of two meetings in a month against Stephen Curry, his improbable rival who, in less than a year, has laid claim to this league as his own. Soon after he arrives at the San Francisco hotel Thursday, James tells Cavaliers assistant Phil Handy that if the Oracle Arena court is available on Christmas morning, he’d like to get a sweat in during the hours before the 2 p.m. tip.Early games can test a player’s tempo, and the opportunity to get some shots up, work on his handle, see a couple of touches in the post would soothe his rhythm when the ball goes up. “He knows his body,” Handy says.

James doesn’t typically work out pregame, but here he is at 11:15 a.m., wearing knee-length gray sweatpants, the NBA’s cute-ugly Christmas socks and a black Cleveland basketball T-shirt with long sleeves that cling to his sculpted triceps like cellophane wrap. He wrestles with Handy on the left block, pivots baseline, pivots again, then goes up and under.

By now he has worked up a sweat, and he yells over to the far sideline, “Bring some water.” James isn’t officious; he doesn’t treat these guys like valets. There’s almost a collaborative feel to the session, even as he’s enveloped in the full bass of his wireless Beats Solo2s. Handy collects the ball, then instructs James on the next sequence of choreography. James nods, then asks for clarification.“Left twice, then right three times, and jab first?”

“That’s right.”