The Golden State Warriors are heading to the NBA Finals to face the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third year in a row. While Kevin Durant being on the Warriors this time around is the biggest difference, something else about Golden State isn't quite the same as it once was. Steve Kerr's absence since Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs has stripped the head coach from his team. That's left Mike Brown in charge of things as the acting head coach, and strangely enough he'll now be coaching against the team he began his head coaching career against in the Cavaliers. He coached the LeBron James-led Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007. Brown and James were swept out of the NBA Finals by the San Antonio Spurs all those years ago, but this time one of them is guaranteed to add a ring to their collection. Will it be Brown, a coach thrust into a huge role. Or will it be LeBron, adding a fourth to his collection. It's one of the most unlikely stories heading into the NBA Finals, with Brown in the position he is because of various factors. Luke Walton took a head coaching position with the Lakers, Brown accepted an assistant coaching position with the Warriors, and Kerr's back issues flared up.The circumstances are amazing, no doubt, and reporters had to ask Brown for his thoughts on the strange coincidence that he'll now be coaching against LeBron and the Cavaliers with a championship on the line. His response was amazing.

"It's all over the place. It's not something that I can hide from or run from, all I've said it is what it is. I don't have any control over what the storyline's going to be. It's a little ironic that things happen in life this way.

"I was talking to my boys about it, it's just one of those things, especially in the NBA. It's like The Lion King, it's just a circle of life how everything just kind of keeps getting back, revolving back to where it once was and just kind of take it in stride. Whatever happens, happens," Brown said.

Circle of life indeed, and there can only one king standing atop Pride Rock. Stephen Curry surely wants to return to his place at the top, while King James won't be an easy ruler to dethrone. The NBA Finals being July 1, and NBA fans should be excited for a great round of hoops.