Tyronn Lue believes Cavaliers-Warriors is the new Lakers-Celtics

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tryonn Lue believes his team's brewing rivalry with the Golden State Warriors could go down in NBA history as the greatest since the Los Angeles Lakers vs Boston Celtics match-ups.

The Cavs and Warriors will square off on Christmas day for the first time since the now infamous NBA Finals Game 7 at the Oracle Arena last June. If the teams return to the finals next June, as widely expected, it would be the first hat-trick of finals in history. With the teams winning one finals apiece, the highly-anticipated third clash would be the rubber match.

The Lakers and Celtics have met a record 11 times in the NBA finals, including six clashes in the 1960s (1961-62 through 1968-69), thrice in the 1980s and two more times in the late 2000s. And yet, they never completed a hat-trick of finals, which could happen next June should the Warriors and Cavaliers compete for the title.

Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors: The NBA's elite rivalry

On Friday, Lue was asked to compare the Celtics-Lakers rivalry to the Warriors-Cavaliers ahead of the Christmas day showdown. "Well, it's a lot of championships won in that era. But if both teams stay together and both teams continue to keep winning, it could be like that," Lue told reporters, via ESPN.

"They (Warriors) have a great team over there on the other side and we have a great team also, so when you talk basketball, you're going to talk Golden State, Cleveland, San Antonio. That's who you're going to talk about. And it's a great place to be in," added Lue, who replaced David Blatt as Cleveland Cavaliers coach last January.

The Warriors (27-4) and the Cavaliers (22-6) are the top seeds in their respective conferences. When asked how his team plans to counter the red-hot Warriors who enter the game on a seven-game winning streak, Lue reminded everyone that his team was also playing at a high level. "(We have) won our last nine out of 10. Well, nine and one forfeit, I guess you want to call it," Lue said, before joking that his team let Memphis Grizzlies beat them without the Big 3 of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

Irving, who made the shot heard around the world during Game 7 of June's finals, is ready to put on a show once again. "For us, we're just going to go out and play our game and have fun. It's just a game at the end of the day. We're playing in the regular season and I know there definitely will be high emotions in both locker rooms.

"That's a given. If you're not getting up for this game -- all the great players that will be on the floor at one time -- you shouldn't be in there," added Irving, who is averaging a career-high tally of 23.8 points and 5.5 assists this season.

Stay tuned for the latest on Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors.