Venue: Oracle Arena-Oakland, Calif.

TV Schedule: 8:00 p.m. CT, TNT

Line: Golden State (-7)

Game 1 of the NBA‘s Western Conference Finals is on the slate Monday night, as the Golden State Warriors will host the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Warriors fairly easily dismissed the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers to reach this point, despite being without league MVP Stephen Curry for the most part. The Thunder took care of the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, before taking down the No. 2 seed San Antonio Spurs in the second round.

What To Watch For: Golden State

Injuries are part of the story for Golden State heading into Monday night, but any concerns surrounding Curry (right knee) and Draymond Green (left ankle) are unfounded in terms of availability for Game 1. Center Andrew Bogut (adductor) is shaping up to be a game-time decision, but his being limited or out entirely just sets up coach Steve Kerr to go with the Warriors’ “death lineup” (Curry, Green, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala) for a starting five Monday night.

Golden State’s success on Monday night, and during the entire conference finals, will rest on their typical formula. Lights-out perimeter shooting, led by Curry and Thompson, can simply demoralize opponents. Along with any residual affect from beating Oklahoma City three times during the regular season, the psychological advantage looks to be in the Warriors’ corner.

What To Watch For: Oklahoma City

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are clearly the driving forces for the Thunder, and that will not change now. But they’ve gotten key contributions from some background players, most notably Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Andre Roberson and Dion Waiters, through the first two rounds of the playoffs and that has to continue too.

Home-court advantage will matter in this series, and the Warriors are still the favorite to advance to the NBA Finals. Game 1 could set a precedent for the entire series though, and I expect Durant and Westbrook to step up their games another notch.

Score Prediction: Thunder 117, Warriors 112