Talk:List of NBA rivalries

Historic Rivalries
Other than Celtics-Lakers, what other rivalries would be considered historic (i.e. lasting throughout most of or a significant portion of the league's lifetime)? Celtics-Hawks, not added here yet, would be another. Just thinking about having a seperate portion for historic rivalries just to seperate the shorter-lived and more recent rivalries from the most enduring ones.

DaDoc540 (talk) 20:56, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Rivalries to remove—"It Ain't a Rivalry!"
I think it is time to remove certain rivalries from this page and delete the corresponding pages for them. If Cavs-Wizards is not a rivalry, then what is Lakers-Kings? Other than a few soundbites from the Lakers, a couple of scuffles, and three series all in favor of one team, is this really a rivalry worth mentioning on the rivalries page? (Of course, Lakers-Kings might still be mentioned on the respective team pages, more so for the Kings, but not outside of that.)

DaDoc540 (talk) 20:56, 17 March 2009 (UTC)


 * The Cavs-Heat is not a rivalry. This page should not be one that lists rivalries based upon expectations of games yet to be played. Additionally, the Bulls-Jazz is not a rivalry. If folks attempt to define rivalries because some players were traded from one team to another, then this page would be WP's longest. Zepppep34 (talk) 11:48, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Here are a list of rivalries, as of this writing, are on the page that I nominate to be removed:

Knicks-Nuggets (2)

Knicks-76ers (2)

Bulls-Cavaliers (1)

Bulls-Pacers (2)

Pistons-Pacers (1)

Heat-Magic (2)

Hawks-Magic (2)

Lakers-Clippers (2)

Lakers-Kings (1)

Celtics-Heat (2)

Bulls-Heat (2)

Heat-Pacers (2)

Lakers-Rockets (2)

My reasons are as follows:

(1) A one-sided feud does not constitute a true rivalry no matter how long it lasts, how intense it is, or how close the teams are. If one team fails to either defeat the other or win an NBA Championship before the other, that team cannot be considered a true rival to the other.

(2) Two teams have to have enough history between each other to have a rivalry. Meeting in the postseason a couple times or being in close proximity to one another is not enough. DaDoc540 (talk) 20:18, 30 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Lakers–Clippers rivalry is already a standalone article, and clearly meets WP:GNG. I'm sure there are so-called rivalries that should be removed from this article.  However, I would base them off whether or not they receive extensive coverage e.g. sources talk about their history, not just trivial use of the word "rivalry" in routine coverage to hype an upcoming game.  Inclusion should not be based on subjective criteria over whether it is a "true rivalry".—Bagumba (talk) 21:04, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Cavs-Wizards
Charles Barkley once said that it "ain't a rivalry" unless the other team (the underdog) wins. Ironically, Sir Charles just inserted himself into this recently when he called the Wizards the "stupidest team" for taunting Lebron James.

Now that the teams meet yet again, and thanks to recent comments by DeShawn Stevenson, Cavs-Wizards (unless the Wizards win it all first or take the lead in the overall playoff series score, Cavs are first, much like Celtics-Hawks and Lakers-Kings) is a rivalry. However, we will need many sources, especially about what happened between Lebron and both DeShawn and Agent Zero.

Here is specifically what we sources for:
 * 2006 NBA Playoffs, First Round: Lebron James hits GW FGs in Games 3 and 5. Gilbert Arenas hits OT-forcing long 3 pt FG in Game 6.  James tells Arenas, about to shoot two potential GW FTs, something resembling, "If you miss these, it's over."  Arenas misses both FTs, and Damon Jones hits the series-winning FG.
 * 2008: Lebron misses a 3 pt FG at the end of a Cavs-Wizards game in Washington and loses. DeShawn Stevenson calls James, "Overrated".  James compares himself to Jay-Z and Stevenson to Soulja Boy.
 * Following up on the James-Stevenson taunting, Arenas writes in his blog that he and his teammates would like to face the Cavs and expect to win, mentioning the Cavs' near-.500 record after the Ben Wallace trade and the belief that it is difficult for any team to beat another team in the playoffs for three consecutive times. (I personally think Agent Zero chose not state the obvious: the Wizards probably do not want to face division rival Orlando Magic, do not want to face the Pistons, and certainly do not want to face the Celtics in the first round.)
 * Charles Barkley calls the Wizards the "stupidest team" for the recent back and forth between the teams, believing that Lebron will do to the Wizards what he did to the Raptors in Toronto when a Raptor fan taunted James (could use a source on this too).

DaDoc540 (talk) 02:41, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Major Rivalries to add:
Philadelpha 76ers vs. Los Angeles Lakers: The Sixers and the Lakers clashed in the Finals three times in the 1980s (1980, 1982, and 1983), with the Lakers winning the first two meetings and the Sixers sweeping in 1983.

New York Knickerbockers vs. Minneapolis Lakers & Los Angeles Lakers: There existed a rivalry between the New York Knickerbockers and the Lakers (during both the Minneapolis and the Los Angeles eras). The Minneapolis Lakers and the New York Knicks met in the 1952 and 1953 Finals with the Lakers winning both confrontations.

By the time the Lakers moved to the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California, the Knicks-Lakers rivalry took on different meanings: East vs. West, Broadway vs. Hollywood. In 1970, 1972, and 1973, the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers met in the Finals. The Knicks won in 1970 (which featured Willis Reed's inspirational joining with his Knick teammates despite injury) and 1973, while the Lakers won in 1972 (the same year they posted a then-record in regular season wins-losses: 69-13).

DaDoc540 21:26, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

More Rivalries
Being the only two teams to remain in their original cities, the Boston Celtics and New York Knickerbockers often consider each other rivals. Whichever team was in Philadelphia (Warriors or 76ers) also engaged in such rivalries.

In the 1990s, there were various Western Conference rivalries among title contenders: the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Seattle Supersonics, and Utah Jazz.

More recently, anytime two Texas teams faced each other (particularly the Mavs-Spurs playoff matchups of 2001 and 2003 and the Mavs-Rockets matchup in 2005), the matchup was known as the Texas Shootout.

I am surprised no one has mentioned Lakers-Blazers yet. If Lakers-Kings is on here, then Lakers-Blazers counts as well. DaDoc540 23:20, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree with DaDoc540 Blazers/Lakers has been a great, heated rivalry since 1977 after the Blazers swept the Lakers in the west finals. Every year these teams split the season series. even if both teams aren't that good each team gets up for these games and plays some of their best basketball of the year. MrM 10:08, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Update: The Atlanta Hawks with Dominique Wilkins and Boston Celtics with Larry Bird met three times in the NBA postseason: 1982 in a best-of-three-games first round (Boston won 2-1), 1986 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals (Boston won 4-1), and 1988 in a memorable shootout between Wilkins and Bird during the Eastern Conference Semifinals (Boston won 4-3). DaDoc540 06:55, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Celtics-Hawks rivalry page is now up! All NBA wiki writers help add content to it and trim it down!

DaDoc540 (talk) 06:23, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

Split Artcile
Does anyone else think this aricle should be broken up into seperate articles for every rivalry or team? As it is now, I think it's hard to read and strangely organized. I think each team should have an article listing their rivalries with other teams all in one article. It could also be put on the team's main article or atlaest linked to. Bryan the Magnificent 07:51, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

Just to clerify exactly what I mean, each team would have a section entitled Rivalries on their main page. It would mainly be from that team's perspective. Another article written from another team's perspective about the same rivalry would be on that team's page. So the Lakers would have an article on the Laker/Celtic rivalry explaining things that happened to the Lakers (for the most part). The Celtics would have a section about the same rivalry but it would tell about the Celtic players and Celtic related things more than the Lakers article would.

OR

Have a new page created called something like "Rivalries of (Team)" or "(Team) rivalries)" and put a link to the new article on the team's main entry.

Another thing we could do is have a Rivalry section in the Division and Conference articles. It would list only the rivalries among teams in that division or conference.

Bryan the Magnificent 21:45, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
 * The common procedure is to create subpages while still mentioning all the information in the main article. Quadzilla99 18:35, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I looked at other "Rivalries" pages and found them to be cleaner and more brief. This page could use some major fixing up, such as removing rivalries that aren't as established (the Bulls/Jazz rivalry only lasted two years, if it existed) and shortening descriptions to put the major information on seperate pages, such as the Bulls-Pistons Rivalry page.

DaDoc540 04:17, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Phoenix Suns/Portland Trail Blazers Rivalry?
I'm not sure if it's a notable rivalry for the NBA. I mean, the Phoenix Suns believe that they've been a major rival to the organization ever since the 1980's, but I rarely hear about this rivalry at all. So, can anyone help me out on whether it's a notable rivalry for the NBA or not? If so, thanks. - AGreatPhoenixSunsFan (talk) 10:25, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Your comments seem to echo several others on this page. A question should be asked before putting a supposed rivalry on this page: would the average NON-viewing NBA "fan" likely tune in to watch the matchup? The Suns and Trail Blazers play in the same division so it's hard not to think the fans of both markets wouldn't label a matchup between the two as a rivalry, but in all likelihood, would garner little interest from fans outside of those markets, let alone people that generally don't watch the NBA unless it's playoff time or a bona fide rivalry. Another good question to ask is: would fans in a different region watch this game/series? Perhaps one way we could go about establishing this would be to get a hold of some TV ratings. Zepppep34 (talk) 11:45, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Cavs/Wizards
The crab dribble needs to be mentioned here somewhere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.88.32.67 (talk) 21:20, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks
These are two of the only remaining teams from the original 1946 NBA (the other is the Golden State Warriors, who, while in Philadelphia, were also great rivals with both teams; both rivalries died down once the Warriors moved west).

This rivalry attributes and stems from the rivalry between New York City and Boston, as well as the bigger Yankees – Red Sox rivalry in Major League Baseball. The fact that Boston and New York City are only three and a half hours away also contributes to the Knicks-Celtics rivalry, which is also seen between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots in the National Football League.
 * More content specific to the actual games shared between the two franchises would help define this as a divisional rivalry. Otherwise, it can be assumed there is some bad blood between two teams in the same division. The number of miles between the two teams does not define a rivalry, nor rivalries that exist between two cities in other sports (aka, MLB with Red Sox/Yankees, NFL with Pats/Jets).
 * It's mainly due to regional proximity and rivalries existing between two cities in other sports. Yes, Knicks vs. Celtics is caused by Yankees – Red Sox rivalry. The New York – Boston rivalry is seen in all sports, except for New York Rangers vs. Boston Bruins.-- SNIyer12, (talk), 22:11, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Miami Heat vs. Orlando Magic
The Heat and Magic have not been rivals since their inception as franchises. They are the only NBA franchises in the state of Florida. They have competed against each other in both Atlantic and Southeast Divisions. Orlando boasts Atlantic Division championships in 1995 and 1996; Miami claimed division titles in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. While battling in the Southeast Division, Orlando and Miami claim the only division championships (Magic: 2008, 2009, 2010; Heat: 2005, 2006, 2007). Now with the new Big 3 in Miami (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh), the Magic fans are trying to create a rivalry, seeing as Miami is the biggest draw in the NBA.
 * "...have not been rivals" pretty much sums up this one. The two franchises and their fans may engage in heated games that would exist beyond the simple fact their both lie in the same state and the same division, but "fans are trying to create a rivalry" seemed to push this one over the edge for disqualifying itself as a bona fide rivalry.

Boston Celtics vs. Orlando Magic
This rivalry can be traced back to the 1995 playoffs, where the Magic beat the Celtics 3-1. Game 4 was the last game the Celtics would ever play in the old Boston Garden. This rivalry recently culminated in the 2009 playoffs when the Magic beat the Celtics 4-3 in Boston en route to the NBA Finals.

In 2010, these two teams met in the Eastern Conference Finals, there was lots of physical play, plenty of technical fouls and flagrent fouls. During this series, Boston center Kendrick Perkins got ejected, Boston Forwards Glen Davis, Rasheed Wallace, and Marquis Daniels got injured. Due to the Flagrant Fouls assessed, A Boston newspaper called Magic Center Dwight Howard a "dirty" player. Boston won this series 4-2.
 * At present, the wording identifies a 15-year lull in the supposed "rivalry."

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers have recently turned the match into a rivalry. Games in both cities are almost always sold-out with crowds having a playoff-like atmosphere even during the regular season. In 2009, the Magic beat Cleveland in 2009 NBA playoffs en route to losing to the Lakers 4-1 in the 2009 NBA Finals. Former Cavaliers star LeBron James demanded that he have talent around him able to sustain a title run. Shaquille O'Neal was acquired over the offseason to slow down Dwight Howard. Antawn Jamison, who has performed very well against Orlando throughout his career, would eliminate the matchup problems that Rashard Lewis caused. The Magic, in turn prepared for Cleveland as well. The Magic signed Mickael Pietrus and Matt Barnes to defend James. Also, the Magic signed Vince Carter to have a scorer that could go toe to toe in a shootout with James if necessary. Howard and O'Neal have traded barbs as to who the real 'Superman" is, referring to the nickname both stars have acquired in their time in the NBA. In 2010, Cleveland and Orlando earned the #1 and #2 seeds, respectively and are anticipated to meet again in the 2010 Eastern Conference Finals. However, Cavaliers lost Eastern Conference semifinals to Boston Celtics 4-2, who also defeated Orlando in Eastern Conference Finals 4 games to 2.


 * As is, the wording seems to define a rivalry on one single playoff match-up.

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Miami Heat
This rivalry between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat began in 2003 when both teams drafted current NBA Superstars, Lebron James and Dwyane Wade, respectively. Known for their competitive games, the rivalry plans to heat up in the upcoming seasons, as Lebron James did not resign his contract with Cleveland and decided to play for the Heat. This caused heavy backlash in Ohio toward Lebron, and hatred towards the Heat. In the most watched NBA game since the 2010 season opener, Lebron returned to Cleveland as a member of the Heat to beat the Cavaliers 118-90 amid boos and jeering from his former fans.
 * "...plans to heat up" wraps it up for this one. James and Wade got together so well in fact that James decided to join Wade and the Heat.

Chicago Bulls vs. Utah Jazz
This rivalry started in the late 90's, where the dominant team of the era, the Chicago Bulls had to deal with a team on the rise, the Karl Malone and John Stockton led Utah Jazz, coached then and now by former Bulls player Jerry Sloan, who has his number retired by the Bulls thanks to delivering the Bulls their only Central Division title before or after Michael Jordan. In the playoffs they met twice in the 1997 NBA Finals and 1998 NBA Finals, with the Bulls winning both series in six games. However, all of the games were close, with six of the Jazz's eight losses to Chicago decided by five points or less, and three of Chicago's four losses were decided by five points or less as well, with one going into overtime. This rivalry has been recently reignited when two of the Jazz's free agents, their leading scorer Carlos Boozer and three point specialist Kyle Korver, who were later joined by Ronnie Brewer, who was traded to Memphis mid-season before joining the Bulls via free agency, with the media jokingly referring to the team as the "Chicago Jazz".
 * "This rivalry started in the late 90's..." and ended in the late 90's. This one needs more time to simmer before calling it a bona fide rivlary. The fact that Boozer and Korver are going to the Bulls likely does little to stir the pot. Zepppep34 (talk) 12:32, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Lakers - Pistons and the general problem of bloating rivalry sections
I see that the Lakers-Pistons article was nominated for deletion and was voted keep. Granted, there appears to be at least a couple of sources citing the existence of such a rivalry. But here's the problem - these two teams have met all of three times in the NBA Finals. The Lakers alone have met three other teams more than that: Boston Celtics (12); Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers (5); and New York Knicks (5). The Celtics have also met the Hawks more times (5).

None of these other rivalries are prominently featured, with the obvious exception of Celtics-Lakers. I'm also not entirely sure they should be. While there was some dimension of rivalry with these teams (particularly Lakers-76ers in the 80s) as editors we have to ask ourselves where we draw the line. The Lakers are a franchise where, just like with the Yankees in baseball, almost every single team could be considered a rival at some point. But as the previous person above me commented when trying to delete certain rivalries off the page, if some distinction isn't drawn for what should and should not constitute a rivalry page, we're going to see these rivalry sections become increasing bloated, a trend that I've been noticing lately. I don't necessarily have the answer, but wanted to put this out there for discussion. TempDog123 (talk) 16:32, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

Bulls-Cavs Rivalry
Why isn't there an article about this? These 2 teams engaged in some fierce playoff battles. You have MJ averaging 45.2 PPG against Cleveland in '88, The Shot in '89, The Eastern Conference Finals in '92, and The Shot II in '93 to seal the sweep. This rivalry needs an article immediately. --Bt8257 (talk) 21:34, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

Article style
A lot of this article reads like a sports-page report, not an encyclopedia article. There are lots of speculative sentences about why teams were strong or weak, editorializing (e.g. the statement about the Cavaliers "rebuilding" after a loss) and commentary that is not verifiable. I'm not a Basketball expert, but to illustrate the point, I've done a bit of editing for style (for example, this edit). --Slashme (talk) 16:39, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Celtics-Heat?
miami and bostons players (more so boston players ive seen) seem to frankly, dislike each other. alot of hard fouls have been on them and the celtics were angry about their back to back playoff loses against miami.... their fans might be the largest part however, and ray allen leaving in favor of the heat certainly made the two more angry against them --Lv171998 (talk) 00:27, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

Spurs - Mavs 2014
The last paragraph of the Spurs - Mavs rivalry is biased towards the Spurs. The only game mentioned was the Game 7 "blow out" by the Spurs, despite it being a tight contested series, even when everyone expected the Spurs to sweep. The game winning 3-pointer at the buzzer isn't mentioned, despite it being the most memorable moment of the series. When addressing the flopping it would be fair to say that both teams were exaggerating contact, but to say that one flop turned the tide for the Mavs is not accurate, as Leonard missed the attempted 3-pointer after the flop. --Janisterzaj (talk) 15:59, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Clippers vs Warriors
This needs to be added. Perhaps the most notable rivalry in the past few years. --108.66.0.101 (talk) 05:30, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

Convert article to a list
There is a related discussion on coverting this article to a list at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_National_Basketball_Association/Archive_32.—Bagumba (talk) 20:34, 11 January 2017 (UTC)

Player Rivalries?
More so than in the other core four North American sports, basketball allows for many intense player rivalries due to how the game is played; rivals' stats and accomplishments are often compared, and the players are often asked to defend one another. These one-on-one matchups were a game-within-a-game, and even if a player changes teams, he can often still face his rival. DaDoc540 (talk) 05:25, 3 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain
 * Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird
 * Hakeem Olajuwon vs. Patrick Ewing
 * Hakeem Olajuwon vs. David Robinson
 * LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant
 * If you're proposing new articles, they would need to meet WP:GNG with sources that specifically deal with the rivalry. The first two are no brainers—they've got books on them.—Bagumba (talk) 10:17, 5 March 2017 (UTC)
 * Looks like a proposal for another section in this article? I like it, but of course you'd need to well source any rivalry before adding it (ie not sure a reliable source would put Durant and James as a rivalry). MavsFan28 (talk) 03:02, 30 March 2017 (UTC)

Rockets-Warriors?
This is now the third time in four seasons that they've met in the playoffs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.6.132.241 (talk) 09:46, 9 May 2018 (UTC)

Latest Edit by Liz
Wow just 3 months ago they removed a Cavaliers-Celtics rivalry because due to the deletion article but this is not a rivalry. Andrei Kenshin (talk) 04:13, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

Warriors-Rockets, Warriors-Grizzlies, Warriors-Thunder, Warriors-Spurs
Will there be a rivalry page for the Warriors' other rivals? ElijahBuena (talk) 15:42, 20 May 2023 (UTC)


 * They would need to demonstrate that WP:GNG is met, which is a higher bar than casual use of the term rivalry by fans and writers. —Bagumba (talk) 01:45, 7 December 2023 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:National Basketball Association which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 13:04, 28 February 2024 (UTC)

Section/article for Knicks-76ers
In light of the playoff series between the two teams, I think at least a section and possibly an article is warranted for the rivalry. While they hadn’t met in the playoffs since 1989 and the rivalry cooled, the new playoff series could create an obvious resurgence. Numerous sources have described them as a rivalry (and this doesn’t even include the generally unreliable WP:NYPOST), and especially considering the general New York-Philadelphia rivalry (Mets-Phillies rivalry, Giants-Eagles rivalry, Flyers-Rangers rivalry), I think we have enough for at least a section and possibly an article. 69.118.230.235 (talk) 13:56, 21 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Teams in the same division being called a rival does not make it a notable rivalry. Usually should have significant coverage that talks about the rivalry as a whole.—Bagumba (talk) 15:20, 21 April 2024 (UTC)