Every good playoff series reaches a strategic endgame. This grimy, defense first, sometimes strange series between Western Conference titans appeared to approach that point down the stretch of the Los Angeles Lakers Game 4 win over the Golden State Warriors -- and, fittingly, that endgame involved a prolonged reunion between the intergalactic superstars who have circled each other on the biggest stages for a decade: Stephen Curry and LeBron James.
Over and over, for various tactical reasons linked to the endgame lineups each team chose, they found themselves matched up against each other again on both ends: Curry testing LeBron's defense on switches, LeBron (with Lonnie Walker IV as his improbable tag-team partner) hunting down Curry on the pick-and-roll like old times.