NBA’s Burning Up: Why Heat-Magic Rivalry Will Keep Florida Hot Through Winter

September 21st, 2010 by Justin Eisenband Leave a reply »
The weakest aspect of the National Basketball Association today is the lack of true rivalries. Sure, rivalries do exist in the NBA, but often they are short-lived and based off of meaningless associations. Take, for example, the most powerful rivalry that exists in the NBA today: The Los Angeles Lakers versus the Boston Celtics.

I do not doubt the legitimacy or the veracity of the contempt that the Lakers and their fans feel for Celtic fans or vice versa, but compare the so-called best rivalry in the NBA to those in the NFL (Packers/Bears, Jets/Dolphins, Giants/Eagles/Cowboys) or the MLB (Do I really have to name the best rivalry in sports?). The Lakers and Celtics are separated by 3000 miles and do not even play in the same conference.

I am not arguing that the Knicks don't receive some special satisfaction from beating the Bulls or that rivalries do not exist. They certainly do, but over the past decade they have lacked the tenacity once seen in the 1990s and previous decades.

The newly formed Sunshine State Rivalry will undoubtedly not be just a feud between two teams. It will be a culture of contention between entire organizations. Just like ...

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