Saturday's Rivals Week Tripleheader on ABC to Feature LeBron James Facing Off Against Steph Curry

"You never sleep well the night before when you know you have to bring your A-game the next day - it's just impossible," James confessed. "That sense of unease creeps in knowing the caliber of competition you'll be facing."

James and Curry cap off NBA Rivals Week on Saturday with their 54th head-to-head matchup between the regular season and postseason. That’s a lot of restless nights.

“You carry that all year … in the back of your mind, his face is in your head, thinking about who you’re going to have to beat to get to the ultimate goal,” Curry said.

The rivalry between the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and greatest 3-point shooter ever is tied at 12-12 in the regular season. Curry holds a 17-12 edge in the postseason, but James has been 10-8 against Curry since donning the Lakers’ purple and gold.

Last summer, both James and Curry wore Team USA’s red, white and blue as they enjoyed 11 games as teammates in the USA Basketball Showcase and the Paris Olympics, capturing the gold medal, and some sleep.

“To have this moment, where you can sleep damn good at night, knowing who you’re linked up with the next day, you cherish it,” James said.

Other key head-to-head matchups:

Nuggets vs. Timberwolves (3 p.m. ET, ABC)

Last May, Minnesota ended Denver’s title defense in the Western Conference semifinals thanks to a historic rally on the road in Denver. The Wolves overcame a 15-point halftime deficit — the largest comeback in a Game 7 in NBA playoff history – to oust the Nuggets and reach the West Finals for the first time in two decades.

Their first matchup this season brought a bit of déjà vu for the Nuggets as they surrendered a 10-point lead in the final four minutes with Anthony Edwards hitting the go-ahead bucket for Minnesota with 25.7 seconds left. Denver enters Saturday’s matchup having won four straight and eight of its last 10 games.

Will that momentum be enough to avoid a third straight Wolves comeback? Or will the Wolves leave with their own four-game win streak – against the Nuggets when counting Games 6-7 of the West semis and their first meeting this season?

Celtics vs. Mavericks (5:30 p.m. ET, ABC)

Boston and Dallas meet for the first time since June 17, when the Celtics hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy and secured the franchise’s 18th banner 18 by defeating the Mavs in six games in the Finals.

The Mavs enter the rematch shorthanded with Luka Dončić out since Christmas Day with a calf strain, Dereck Lively II expected to miss months with a foot fracture, and offseason additions Klay Thompson and Naji Marshall each missing the past two games.

However, with two wins over West-leading OKC in the past week, the Mavs proved that they can still compete with the league’s elite. Dallas’ next test comes against a Boston squad ranked second in the East but searching for the scoring and shooting that defined the early part of its title defense.

After scoring 100+ points in each of their first 35 games, the Celtics have been held under 100 four times in their last 10 games – all losses.

Lakers vs. Warriors (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC)

When these teams last met on Christmas, Curry scored 38 points, James put up 31 points and 10 assists, but Austin Reaves made the game’s biggest play.

After Curry splashed two 3-pointers in just seven seconds to tie the game with 6.2 ticks left, Reaves hit a driving layup with one second to play that proved to be the game-winner.

After delivering a Christmas Day classic, what will James, Curry and company have in store for an encore to cap off Rivals Week? Both teams are coming off big wins – the Lakers beat the rival Celtics by 21, while the Warriors topped the Bulls by 26.

Now in the second half of the regular season, every game takes on added importance in the tight Western Conference playoff chase, which sees the No. 5 Lakers and No. 11 Warriors separated by just three games.