Do real rivalries still exist in the NBA?

Think the Pacers are slightly more desperate to best the Heat considering the last 2 years worth of playoffs...Not sure what Lebron has to prove against the Pacers, until they beat Miami in a playoff series. besides, Lebron made his statement by holding George to 2pts in the first half!

good analysis astro. I worry about college basketball being relevant anymore, it needs to change and be more in line with the NBA if the NCAA is too stay relevant i reckon. NCAA rules are totally different rule version of basketball to the NBA. Also non payment of under-20 players, no wonder they often skip college or do only 1 year. Now in the NBA you can only apply for the draft, once you have left 1 academic year since high school. But no rules say you have to go to college. Magic, and Bird, and Jordan, got on well off the court, but no love lost on the court. They all made very clear no friends on the court, and would always put there on court rivalry 1st over being friends, really wanted to win. Bird and Magic didn't get on well anyway at the start, Bird was a hard man, who grew up tough. Watch a courtship of rivals, a good doco on there rivalry. I think the , banning of hand checking and physical fouls has watered down the league too.

Sorry guys, but LBJ is right. Rivalries in the traditional sense, don't exist any more. Some 'team' rivalries exist (Lakers - Celts is the best example) but even then, these have been watered down. The 'personal/individual' rivalries have also diminished. There are a bunch of reasons why: 1. The College Game - guys don't stay in college for any length of time any more, and the best skip it all together, so any college based rivalries which were transferred into the NBA no longer exist 2. The Number of Teams - there are a LOT more teams now than in the past, and none of the 'newer' teams really have much in the way of rivalries as they lack the history to do so. Same with teams which have relocated. The Raptors, Bobcats, Thunder, Grizz etc...no real history there to allow for rivalries. 3. The Lack of Loyalty - how many guys under 30yrs of age now go through their career on the one team? Or how many teams make keeping their long term players a priority, and hold onto them as opposed to trading them for draft picks? This used to happen a lot more. Players were drafted by a team, and played there for the duration of their career, and the team supported them in this...rivalries could build up, but now, that doesn't happen 4. Team USA - the top players in the league are closer now than they were in the past. Team USA is just one example. Some of these guys have played together since they were teenagers. Bird and Magic had a healthy respect and were friends, but they weren't giving high fives and picking each other up off the court during games. 5. Consistency - to have real rivalries, the same teams with the same players need to play in BIG games consistently. This is why Lebron and Kobe IS NOT a rivalry. They've played almost no meaningful games. The Lakers and Celts met every year in the playoffs...now that never happens. Teams change and evolve so quickly, that it can't happen like it used to.

I'm with you on this. The NBA doesn't have those fixtures where the coach and supporters say well our season may be going crap but as long as we beat team X then not all is lost. I think the only one which to me has any traction is the lakers/celtics but even then it isn't a yankee's /redsox thing

Go wear your Lakers warm up top Bing! :P

As Marks "Miami supporting mate", I feel I should chime in here. Miami and Indy are the only teams above .500 in the East at the moment, don't seem to care about getting the top seed and Lebron looks like he is cruising at about 80%. They will finish top two in the East without exerting themselves at all. Sounds like preseason to me... Once it's over, then the real stuff can begin!

A rivalry to me goes beyond two teams at a competitive peak, challenging for titles etc. if that's all it is, it needs to extend over a long period of time, not just one or two seasons... To my mind a real rivalry is one which is still going when one team is at the top and the other at the bottom. And it's similar if there are player personalities at the centre of the rivalries; ask yourself, would the rivalry exist if one, both or all of the players moved on? I don't know about the nba, but seems to me that a lot of the rivalries listed here are more like temporary contemporary challengers.

Good article. Stinks to me of LeBron trying to play down his intense desperation to beat the Pacers.

David Stern will be having a few words to LeBron I think. There are plenty of genuine rivalries in the NBA and it is what keeps fans engaged during the period of the season that Miami aren't really fussed with (the whole 82 game preseason as my Miami supporting mate likes to call it).

You know when Wade joined the team it made my day as that's my surname. I have about 20 wade jerseys of different types!

How can you hate the Heat! Been following them since they joined the comp. Helped that the 2 live crew followed them as well.

Watch an OKC vs Heat game. Or a New York vs Brooklyn match. Bargiani got ejected for saying swearing at KG in Italian. :) MY favourite rivalry was the Boston Heat rivalry, back when Pierce, Rondo and KG were running a show it was always good to watch. I guess you can say everyone hates the Heat haha, Bulls vs Heat was good when D-Rose was not injured. Good footage of D-Rose on the break schooling Lebron and Wade for the lay-ups. When two teams are at their best though they are almost guaranteed to be rivals, big ups to this piece Zee!

Lebron says it's 2 really good teams striving to win a championship, it's usually always been like that in the NBA only 1 or 2 maybe 3 good teams per season. As for no rivalries, I disagree, maybe they are not as personal as the 80's or 90's as players, now seem to spend more time together meeting other teams at promotional stuff, and more on tv, and probably most players will play for more than 1 team or 3 teams more often than 20 years ago, but that's debatable anyway. For ages i used to think Magic,Bird, Micheal Jordan, and the rest all wanted to win championships more, as there was less money in the game, but that initself doesn't make sense. The top 3 at Miami including Lebron all took paycuts to win a championship at Miami. But maybe money is so much bigger now anyway, one can afford too but that's again debatable, or just coincedence. Kevin Garnett got paid mega bucks to play on a lousy team at Minnesota.So money definatley talks. I still think rivalries are there, Tim Duncan and san antonio sure wanted to beat Lebron and hated losing to Miami. But maybe right now the league is dull for rivalries and not many around. The 80's and 90's were just an exceptional era for rivalries, and talented players, pistons bad boys, to the Bulls, lakers showtime, and celtics. Maybe money has dulled the rivalries, i don't know or basketball is less physical now, maybe that's it, but the personal duels don't seem as much there, or maybe it's just this generation, not alot of rivalries who knows. But the NBA has only ever in season only ever had 2 or 3 teams each year with a realistic shot at winning the title, always been that way.

Cleveland v Lebron Bit I agree. Maybe with the fans a few rivalrys espesh with old teams like Celtics. But I don't think the players but into any rivallry