For the sake of good entertainment — and because no one wants to go through six months of the regular season and two months of postseason for an anticlimactic finish — we hope the NBA Finals does turn out to be a competitive series. Still, it’s hard to imagine any scenario other than the Spurs wiping out the Cavs in five games or less. But if we’ve learned anything from these playoffs, it’s to never count out any team that has LeBron James. That said, here’s what the Cavs and Spurs need to do, and need to avoid, to bring home the trophy.

Cleveland Cavaliers

DO mix things up with LeBron. Mike Brown’s “playbook” could probably fit on a bar napkin — it seems the only actual plays the Cavs run are iso’s for LeBron, pick-and-pops with LeBron and Big Z, and pick-and-rolls with ‘Bron and Varejao. It worked against Detroit, in part because ‘Bron was an absolute animal, but also because the Pistons playied terrible defense and Flip Saunders never came up with a way to defend those three plays. Gregg Popovich is smarter than that; he’ll find a way to neutralize Brown’s mini-playbook, so Brown might want to at least come up with some creative things to do with LeBron. We’re not asking for anything too abstract — it just wouldn’t be the worst idea to post LeBron up a couple times or have him work the baseline … anything to mix it up and give the Spurs defense different looks. Ultimately, it will open up more doors for ‘Bron and his teammates.

DON’T give Sasha Pavlovic a green light. You might have missed it, but LeBron’s other-level performance in Game 5 of the Detroit series was almost wasted due to Sasha single-handedly trying to lose the game for Cleveland. His stat line (6 points, 3 turnovers, 2-for-10 FGs) didn’t even capture how bad he was — the silly charging fouls and poor shot selection during crunch-time had to be driving LeBron, Mike Brown and anyone else in the Cavs camp nuts. Don’t get it mistaken; Sasha definitely has a place in this series. He’s a good defender and one of the few Cavs who can get into the lane and create. He just can’t be allowed to run amok.

DO feed Ilgauskas early. Get Z involved right away and not only does he establish a threat that the other team has to acknowledge (taking pressure off LeBron), he’ll be that much better for you down the stretch. In a series that probably won’t come down to running and transition, Z will be a big difference-maker.

DON’T forget the regular season. Cavs fans won’t go long without reminding you of their team’s 2-0 record against San Antonio in the regular season. And Spurs fans are quicker to argue that those games don’t matter. As players, the Cavs can at least take those two wins as something to help build confidence. They know they can play with the Spurs.

San Antonio Spurs

DO see how far you can go with the refs. Keeping LeBron in check will almost exclusively fall on the shoulders of Bruce Bowen. The question then becomes, how grimy will the refs allow Bowen to be with King James? As infallible as ‘Bron looked in the last four games of the Pistons series, if a nice guy like Ray Allen can be driven to threatening Bowen, obviously Bruce’s style can get under anyone’s skin. Will the refs protect LeBron like they did with D-Wade in last year’s Finals? Bowen’s best hope is that the refs cut him some leeway and let him rough up the King a little.

DON’T get taken out of your game. Two reasons the Spurs have built the NBA’s closest thing to a dynasty: first, they’ve found a successful game plan, and second, they stick to it. Rarely do the Spurs get sucked into playing another team’s style, even when they’re playing the Suns; against whom everyone usually gets sucked into playing their style. San Anton shouldn’t change a thing against Cleveland, and that includes defensively: just because Daniel Gibson had a good game over the weekend, don’t think you shouldn’t still leave Cleveland’s shooters open. Just because Drew Gooden had one good game a while back against Detroit, the Spurs shouldn’t all of a sudden worry about Drew hurting them. Keep playing Spurs basketball, and it will lead to the ‘chip.

DO send help on LeBron. And by help, we don’t mean Jason Maxiell’s “stand in the general vicinity and reach” help that helped ‘Bron drop 48 on Detroit in Game 5.

DON’T take Cleveland lightly. Everyone — Dime included — has been guilty of this throughout the postseason. We thought the Cavs would fall to Jersey in Round 2. Then we thought they’d get smoked by Detroit. And each time, they’ve responded to the doubters and proven us wrong. Cleveland isn’t totally outclassed in this series, and they’re confident on top of that. The Spurs should take them every bit as seriously as they would Dallas or Phoenix or Detroit.