AJ Neuharth-Keusch

USA TODAY Sports

The NBA postseason dust has finally settled, and with the field narrowed down to two teams, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are gearing up to take on Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in a highly-anticipated Finals rematch.

James, who was forced to carry the bulk of the load in last year's Finals without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving (the Cavs' second and third options), understands as well as anyone the difficulty of the task at hand, and spoke highly of his upcoming opponents during Tuesday's practice.

"I think everybody knows a lot about (the Warriors)," James said. "It doesn't mean anything. You still gotta try to stop them, and that's a tall task. They're a well-oiled machine, obviously well coached and got so many great players on their team. So it's going to be very challenging for us, and we have to be ready for it."

Particularly challenging will be containing the sharpshooting backcourt duo of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who willed the Warriors back from a 3-1 series deficit in the Western Conference finals with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

"They shoot the ball extremely well," James said. "Klay and Steph are probably the two greatest shooters that we've probably ever seen. Obviously in today's game they are. Some of the shots, there's nothing that you can do about it. Better offense beats great defense any day."

"It's hard to contain them," the four-time MVP continued. "We all know that, the whole league knows that, our team knows that. But we have a game plan and we have to follow it and be true to it."

Game 1 of the NBA Finals tips off on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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