For once, LeBron James isn’t the one with something to prove. His place in history is already secure. He’s never going to catch Kobe or MJ, much less Bill Russell, but those two championships—like his four MVP awards—have long since validated what we already knew: We’ve been watching an all-time great write his story for over a decade now. No, in these finals, the “something to prove” honor belongs to the Warriors, the heavy favorites, who are trying to avoid becoming a flop for the ages. While Steph Curry’s injuries certainly affected their performance in the early rounds, we’ve nonetheless learned that this seemingly invincible squad is, in fact, quite mortal. The onus is on them to once again prove otherwise.

But it’s not just the Warriors’ play that’s come crashing down to earth. Over the last few weeks, they’ve gone from the universally beloved to suddenly polarizing. Prior to the playoffs, disliking the Warriors was considered an affront to basketball. Their appeal was indisputable, stirring something even in people who otherwise couldn't care less about the NBA. The team tore through the league with a joyous abandon that breathed new life into the sport. If Curry eclipsed LeBron as the most popular player in the game, the fun factor played a major role.

Now, though, the spell is broken, the Warriors are no longer an article of faith, and the inevitable backlash is finally creeping into the picture. Talk of the Warriors “turning heel” tends to begin with Draymond Green’s repeated nut shots. But in a larger sense, the Warriors have gone from avant-darlings to the Evil Empire itself. Maybe we secretly resented them all along for making us love them unconditionally, for not even giving us a choice in the matter. Or maybe all the talk about the Future of Basketball finally made the Warriors into the new status quo—the Patriots of the NBA. Whatever the case, there’s a reason why the possibility of Russell Westbrook winning a title seemed so much more exciting (to some people) than the Warriors marching ahead toward the inevitable.

When the Warriors and the Cavs met in last year’s Finals, LeBron found himself cast in the unlikely role of underdog because of injuries to Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. That’s not exactly the case this time around; the Cavs have cruised through the East, and the Warriors no longer seem like an unbeatable juggernaut. But James and the Cavaliers are almost certainly still the underdogs—and, perhaps more unexpectedly, the sentimental favorites. If the Warriors are out to affirm their historical significance, the Cavs are driven by LeBron’s quest to win a title for his beleaguered hometown. One is largely abstract, the other purely emotional. One is impossibly lofty, the other is something any sports fan can identify with.

“For once, LeBron’s story is something practically anyone can get behind. We’ve turned our attention from trying to fathom LeBron James to actively rooting for him.”

It’s a strange space for LeBron to inhabit. After all, he’s spent much of his career fighting against the very fact that his incomparable style of play makes him difficult to relate to. Much of Curry’s popularity has been attributed to the fact that anyone can identify with the act of shooting a basketball, whereas no one can really imagine playing basketball like LeBron James. Yet, compared to the Warriors, the Cavs practically ooze populism. For once, LeBron’s story is something almost anyone can get behind. We’ve turned our attention from trying to fathom LeBron James to actively rooting for him. If this stint in Cleveland does end up being the third act of his career, it might very well be one that’s (for us) less about him burnishing his legacy and more about—as the Warriors did throughout the season—contributing to the overall health of the sport.

What makes these Finals so potentially riveting is that, for the time being, everything surrounding these two teams feels upside down and backward. Wilt Chamberlain’s “nobody roots for Goliath” should apply to LeBron James more than anyone else in the league, and yet somehow the Warriors have succeeded in making him the accessible one. Somehow the team that made everyone fall in love with basketball all over again has one that many now love to hate or have come to only grudgingly respect. Last year, LeBron earned plaudits even in defeat. This time around, once again—improbably—he could come out looking great even if his Cavs come up short. The Warriors, by contrast, could easily win the championship in such a way that still raises questions about their legitimacy.

Yet this dynamic is anything but stable. Who’s to say that a remarkable Golden State performance won’t leave us breathless with awe, or that James won’t have long stretches where his dominance feels as foregone as GSW’s once did? At the risk of oversimplification, the Warriors speak mostly to the head and the Cavaliers have our hearts on lock. But basketball is a game that operates on both levels. And if this series delivers on all it promises, we could find ourselves experiencing all the game has to offer while never really having to pick favorites. There’s a good chance that no matter what the outcome, we’ll all win.