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LeBron James is quite adamant that ‘real’ rivalries in the NBA tend not to exist anymore.
“There is no real rivalry in the NBA these days,” he said before Tuesday night’s game against the Pacers.
“You don’t see the competition enough or play the competition a lot.
“It’s two really, really good teams that [are] striving to win a championship, but rivalries…there are no more rivalries.”
He states that playing each other two years in a row is a suitable suggestion for a rivalry.
But if anyone caught those playoff fixtures between the Heat and Pacers, and especially supporters of both sides, I bet you they completely disagree with the MVP’s statements.
I also have to disagree with the great man.
As a Heat supporter nothing revs me up more than a fixture against the Bulls, or the Celtics, especially when most of your mates and family support those two clubs.
A lot of the rivalry that goes on in the NBA is not only spurred on by history and recent matches but the genuine dislike, respect and resentment NBA supporters have for one another.
Rivalries in the NBA are an integral part of the league’s DNA for decades.
The spectacular rivalries of the likes of Heat-Pacers, Lakers-Celtics, Celtics-Pistons, Bulls-Pistons, Bulls-Celtics, Knicks-Celtics.
Knicks-Bulls, Lakers-Spurs, Lakers-Rockets, Heat-Celtics, Rockets-Spurs, Lakers-Suns, Jazz-Bulls, Kings-Lakers, Heat-Bulls, and practically whoever Miami Heat play.
As James said:
“There’s a lot of teams that want to knock us off — a couple of teams in the Eastern Conference who hate us and we know who they are,” he said.
Each NBA fixture nowadays is a guaranteed to bring some feisty exchanges to the core, the rivalries come down to the five lads starting each fixture, so I really don’t know where LBJ has gotten his theory from.
For years the ‘it’ player rivalry was Kobe and LeBron, we have Howard and Kobe, Drummond and Davis, Williams and Oladipo, Randolph and Perkins, and KG vs the entire NBA.
Those niggly showings, the heated verbal and physical battles, the ‘put your body on the line’ showings whenever rivals go up against each other makes 85 percent of the spectacle.
So for all that love the NBA’s sake lets hope LBJ has a change of heart should the Pacers and Heat cross each other’s paths in the playoffs for a third consecutive year.
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