Look, it's been a week since the much-anticipated NBA Finals "three-match" between the Warriors and Cavaliers became a reality, and there's been no shortage of analysis. If you so desired, you could look at dissections of every play each team runs, and read articles on why pretty much every player in the Finals is the "key to the series."

But Game 1 is on Thursday, so let's take a deep breath, relax and get ready for the series that hopefully will save an otherwise underwhelming 2017 NBA playoffs.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as we wait for the game.

Blowout watch?

Most think the series will be a tight one -- all of our experts (except for that wild card Jack Maloney) predicted at least six games -- but we've already seen close series this postseason that aren't necessarily exciting. Even when series have gone the distance (Celtics-Wizards, Jazz-Clippers), most of the games were actually blowouts. On the surface, since these teams know each other so well by now, you'd think the Warriors and Cavs would play pretty much every game close. But keep in mind that both of these teams are capable of demoralizing, soul-crushing runs, as they've displayed throughout the playoffs. And this is Game 1. Chances are one team will hit the other with something it's not ready for, and the other team won't have time to adjust.

It's hard to bounce back after getting blasted with a 20-0 run, and both these teams are forward-thinking enough to know that it's not worth beating their starters into the ground to lose by 12 instead of 25. Bottom line: don't be surprised if Game 1 isn't a nail-biter.

The Durant dynamic

The Warriors have shown no signs of diffculty in integrating Kevin Durant into the offense -- in fact, they've looked pretty much unstoppable throughout the season and into the playoffs. But this series will be different. If the games are close and evolve into more isolation, as they often have during the past two Finals matchups, how will the Warriors and Durant respond? When the Warriors acquired Durant, many suggested that he would be the answer any time the Warriors' offensive machine stalls. But can Durant balance his unguardable one-on-one game with the Warriors' pace-and-space offense when the bright lights are shining? It's a delicate balance between aggressiveness and selfishness that Durant has yet to have to seriously negotiate with the Warriors.

Curry in the blender

In last year's Finals the Cavs found success in putting Stephen Curry into pick-and-rolls to force switches onto either LeBron James or Kyrie Irving. While LeBron and Cleveland will likely want to get their role players involved early with less isolation, if the game is close down the stretch expect the Cavs to make Curry defend on pretty much every possession. It's their best option on offense and has the added benefit of wearing Curry down to hopefully extinguish his offensive fireworks.

Bench wars

When the Warriors signed Durant, they gave up some of their depth to do it. Losing rotation players like Mo Speights and Leandro Barbosa hasn't seemed to affect the Warriors this postseason, but they've also gotten unexpectedly great minutes from reclamation project JaVale McGee and very old man David West. Add in the fact that Shaun Livingston is playing fewer minutes (21.4 in last year's playoffs vs. 16.1 this postseason), and that means the Warriors will have to rely more on the inexperienced Ian Clark and maybe even Patrick McCaw for meaningful minutes. Meanwhile the Cavs have experience up and down their roster, including the bench. Kyle Korver, Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye and Deron Williams are all playoff-tested veterans who could be the key to extending leads in the few minutes that Golden State rests its stars.