Stephen Curry hopes to continue his current level of play in The Finals this season.

Curry has struggled at times in each of the past two Finals.

“Just having an opportunity to rise to the occasion knowing this is when things matter most,” he said. “But I’ve been playing pretty solid all year. Whether people notice it or not, want to talk about it or not, or praise it or not, it doesn’t really matter. Now in the bright lights is when you got to continue to do it, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Hopefully for the next three weeks I can sustain it.”

After two straight MVPs, some believe Curry had a somewhat lackluster regular season.

“That’s a misconception,” Curry interjected. “It’s one I haven’t talked about much. I didn’t play well in the Finals last year, but for the most part, the last two years, I’ve been pretty proud of the way I’ve played. Just confident and aggressive, knowing that I was out there doing my job. And I’m my biggest critic, so for me to say that, I feel pretty confident in that.”

Steve Kerr is not planning on coaching for Game 1 of The Finals on Thursday.

"As of right now, I will not coach Thursday night," Kerr said after practice Monday. "It's still up in the air."

Kerr addressed the media on Monday with Mike Brown out due to food poisoning. Jarron Collins ran most of Monday's practice.

"I told the team the good news is the team is really healthy," Kerr joked. "But the bad news is the coaching staff is dropping like flies."

The last time Kerr addressed the media prior to Monday was in between Games 2 and 3 of the opening round of the playoffs. 

Earlier this month, Kerr visited a specialist at Duke University to undergo a procedure to repair a spinal fluid leak.

"I'm not well enough to coach games, and I know that [because] I coached all 82 games and I did OK," Kerr explained. "I was uncomfortable and in a lot of pain, but I did fine. I could make it through. The first two games of the Portland series, whatever happened, things got worse. You saw me in the fourth quarter of Game 2. I could not sit still in my chair. It was that much pain. I would say that I've gotten a little bit better. That's why I'm here talking to you now. But you can probably tell I'm not sitting here happy-go-lucky."

Zaza Pachulia is on track to start Game 1 of The Finals on Thursday for the Golden State Warriors.

Pachulia participated in all parts of all three practices on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

“We’ve done running, had scrimmages and he’s done everything,” Mike Brown said.

Pachulia is expected to play his typical 15-20ish minute per night role and he has been fully cleared, health-wise, to do so.

“It’s good that we have one week off,” Pachulia said. “That way I can prepare myself mentally and physically for this team.”

Kevin Love doesn't understand why the Cleveland Cavaliers are entering The Finals against the Golden State Warriors with the label of underdogs.

"The whole underdog thing is funny to me, because, yeah, at the end of the day we are defending our title," Love said Saturday after the Cavs' first practice ahead of The Finals. "We're trying to repeat, which is so hard to do. I think we will use it as fuel, we will use it as motivation, but the idea of playing into it? It's tough for me to say that is the case. I don't feel like we're underdogs. We match up well with them, and I think they'd say the same about us."

BPI says the Warriors have a 93 percent chance of winning the series. 

Tyronn Lue said the idea that the Cavs need the underdog title as a linchpin to get ready for the Finals is off base.

"We're not going to use that as motivation," Lue said. "It's like, we're in the NBA Finals. That's enough motivation alone. Not worry about what it says in Vegas or what people are saying about underdogs. We're not using that as an excuse. We've got to come out and play. Our goals were set at the beginning of the season, and that's to win a championship. So that's what we're focused on."

The Golden State Warriors enter The Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers with the biggest advantage in regular season Net Rating since 1980.

The Warriors had a Net Rating of +11.6 during the regular season compared to +3.3 for the Cavaliers, which is a difference of 8.3.

The next highest differential came in the lockout shortened 1999 season when the San Antonio Spurs had a +9.0 Net Rating compared to +1.2 for the New York Knicks. The Boston Celtics in 1986, Orlando Magic in 1995 and Celtics in 1981 had the next three biggest advantages. The Magic were swept 4-0 by the Houston Rockets in 1995. 

The Warriors/Cavaliers matchup also ranks as the sixth (2015) and ninth (2016) biggest discrepancies since 1980.

While the Cavaliers were on a different level in the regular season, they have been dominant in the playoffs in losing just one game with a Net Rating of 14.3. The Warriors enter The Finals undefeated with a Net Rating of 16.3.

The 2017 NBA Playoffs will have one of the fewest number of game since the first round was expanded from a five-game series to a seven-game series in 2003.

Depending on the length of The Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, there will be anywhere between 78 games and 81 games.

If only 78 games are played, it will be the shortest playoffs of the era, while 81 games would be tied for second shortest.

With fewer games, the NBA will have less revenue from gate receipts and that will likely bring the cap down further from the current projection of $101 million.

The Warriors have had the highest per game gate receipts in the playoffs over the past three seasons and have only played six home games heading into The Finals. In 2016, they played 10 home games with the first two series going five games and the Western Conference Finals going seven.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to The Finals for the third straight years as they defeated the Boston Celtics by a final score of 135-102 in Game 5.

James was asked if he's facing a particular challenge defending the Cavaliers' title against the Golden State Warriors.

"I'm going to be honest, I'm not in the right mind to even talk about Golden State," said James. "It's too stressful, and I'm not stressed right now. I'm very happy about our accomplishment. I have no discussion -- Golden State, they've been the best team in our league for the last three years, and then they added an MVP. That's all I can give you right now, because I'm happy and I don't want to be stressed. They cause a lot of stress, and I'll get to that point when we start to prepare for them."

The Cavaliers lost to the Warriors in 2015 and then came back from a 3-1 deficit to win the title in 2016.

The Golden State Warriors' pick and roll combo of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant have perhaps more potential than any other duo in the NBA.

The Warriors haven't used it with much frequency unlike the Cleveland Cavaliers with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

"Steve (Kerr) isn't really into this much," Mike Brown said. "He's more about spacing and movement -- and that's fantastic. I love Steve, and wherever I might go, I'm going to incorporate a lot of stuff he does. But in the playoffs, sometimes you have to attack a mismatch. When I need a bucket, that's what I'm going to do."

Kerr says the two coaches have talked recently about playing mismatch basketball in the right doses. "Mike is right about me, but I also recognize the need to do it more as defenses get tougher," Kerr says. "It's about finding the right balance between isolating when we need to, and keeping the flow that makes us who we are."

Isaiah Thomas will miss the remainder of the postseason after aggravating a right hip injury during Friday's Game 2 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Celtics announced Saturday that Thomas suffered a "re-aggravation of a right femoral-acetabular impingement with labral tear" during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Celtics trail Cleveland 2-0 heading into Game 3. 

“Isaiah has worked tirelessly to manage this injury since it first occurred,” said Celtics Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brian McKeon. “The swelling increased during the first two games against Cleveland, and in order to avoid more significant long-term damage to his hip, we could no longer allow him to continue.”

Isaiah Thomas missed the entire second half of Game 2 with a right hip strain.

Thomas played 17 minutes in the first half and didn't score a single field goal on six attempts.

“I think he's going to be reevaluated tomorrow, “ said Stevens, “and ‘we'll see’ is what I was told. I don't know anything further to that. I don't know if somebody out of our PR group will communicate that tomorrow or early Sunday, whatever the determination is.”

According to Stevens, Thomas has been battling the injury for a while.

“He's had a nagging hip injury,” said Stevens. “He aggravated it pretty significantly on Friday in Washington Game 6, went through a bunch of different testing on Saturday and Sunday, was able to play Monday, hasn't felt great either of the two days. But today I thought he looked much different in the first half. When we went back to the locker room, our training staff and doctors got with him. He was pretty despondent not to be able to play. I mean, that guy is a tough guy, and he plays through a lot. For him to have to sit is really hard.”