Learn about the five biggest rivalries in basketball
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| Braden: Top 5 Biggest Rivalries in Professional Basketball. In this lesson you'll learn about Basketball's rivalries, more specifically the top 5, biggest rivalries in the NBA, or National Basketball Association. |
| Ann: Now, we've had to take a special angle with this because, especially in basketball, rivalries change over time. |
| Braden: For that reason, we are adding in the time frames for the peaks of the rivalries. |
| Ann: Beyond that, the NBA seems to have purposefully altered how teams play each other in order to diminish the intensity of rivalries. |
| Braden: It seems, recently, that even with those changes, some of the big rivalries may be coming back. |
| Ann: Just for future reference, the major basketball rivalries are dominated by about 4 teams—LA Lakers, New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, and the Boston Celtics. So, you'll see them often. |
| Braden: To start things off, our number five biggest rivalry in basketball is between the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs. |
| Ann: This was during the 2000s and this rivalry is as much about proximity as it is about basketball. |
| Braden: That’s right, both teams are from Texas. Actually, both are from Dallas but the Spurs moved to San Antonio after they were founded. |
| Ann: These teams fight about fans, about championships, about points, about referees, you name it. |
| Braden: For example, since 2000, these two teams have played each other 5 times in the playoffs. The Spurs have won 3 and the Mavericks have won 2. |
| Ann: We shall see what the future hold for these. |
| Braden: Our number four biggest rivalry in basketball is between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks. This is in the late 90s. |
| Ann: The Pacers and the Knicks had probably the angriest rivalry in the history of the NBA. This anger always came to a peak during the playoffs. |
| Braden: We need to make special mention of Reggie Miller, who played for the Indiana Pacers. He was central to the rivalry. |
| Ann: His way of taunting and mocking the Knicks players and their fans angered the players so much that a "flagrant" became commonplace. |
| Braden: In basketball, there are accidents, fouls, and flagrant fouls. An accident is when a rule is broken or someone gets hurt by accident. |
| Ann: A foul is where a rule is broken purposefully or by accident. Sometimes someone gets hurt. |
| Braden: A flagrant foul is when a player breaks a rule, typically to harm someone from the other team. |
| Ann: There weren't many accidents during these games. Just many, many flagrant fouls, from both teams. |
| Braden: Our number three biggest rivalry in basketball is between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs around 2001. |
| Ann: Since about 1999, the LA Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs have pretty much dominated the NBA. |
| Braden: Over the past 12 years, the Spurs have won the NBA Finals 4 times and the Lakers have won it 5 times for a total of 9 championships in only 12 years. |
| Ann: Now that's a tight rivalry. |
| Braden: An interesting fact, from 1999-2004, the LA Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs played each other every season in the playoffs. |
| Ann: The winner between the two went on to win the NBA championships that year. |
| Braden: Our number two biggest rivalry in basketball is between the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks. |
| Ann: This rivalry was the strongest in the late 80s and early 90s, during the Michael Jordan era. |
| Braden: Some speculate that if Michael Jordan hadn't played for the Bulls, then the New York Knicks would have won the NBA Finals several times. But that's just guessing. |
| Ann: Repeatedly, both teams met in important playoff games. Repeatedly, the playoff series "best of seven" reached the famous "game 7." And repeatedly, the Bulls won but mostly because of Michael Jordan. |
| Braden: After Michael Jordan retired (the first time) the Nicks won several important games against the Bulls but were never able to win a full championship. |
| Ann: During the 2000s this rivalry has diminished but it's still there. Some say it's even returning. We'll see! |
| Braden: Ok, and our biggest rivalry in basketball is the Boston Celtics versus the Los Angeles Lakers. This is between 1962 1990. |
| Ann: This is the classic rivalry. The one that everyone over the age of 30 thinks of when you speak of basketball rivalries. |
| Braden: These two teams met in the NBA finals 9 times during this period and numerous times during the regular season. |
| Ann: The rivalry was aided by each team having one of the world's best players. Larry Bird played for the Celtics and Magic Johnson played for the Lakers. |
| Braden: They were icons of basketball and the rivalry between them and their teams turned them into almost mythical beings. |
| Ann: Yeat! Two interesting facts - 1) The Celtics still hold the highest number of NBA Championship wins ever at 17 but the Lakers are close behind with 16. |
| Braden: And 2) If you add them together, exactly half of all NBA championship titles (66) are owned by either the Celtics or the Lakers. |
| Ann: In basketball, it doesn’t get any better than this. |
| Braden: That just about does it for today. |
| Ann: Thanks for listening! |
| Braden: Have a great day! |
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