The Wizards pushed the Cavs to six games in 2006, were swept by them in 2007 and pushed them to six games again in 2008.Washington could never quite find an answer for LeBron and company, and as a result their impressive playoff berths are forever marred. And let's not forget that Smith's larger-than-life-ego is sure to inflate any existing tension between the two teams.Yes, the Hawks' greatest rivals are quickly becoming, if they are not already, the Orlando Magic.This should come as no surprise to anyone, being that the Lakers have been the Boston Celtics' greatest rivals since their first NBA Finals meeting in 1959.Boston and Los Angeles have met 12 times in the NBA Finals, and that is the main source of this rivalry. In the series, Dirk Nowitzki and the eventual NBA champion Mavericks exposed a great deal of weaknesses that Oklahoma City possessed, especially between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.The series led to an array of speculation regarding whether or not the Thunder should consider trading Westbrook, chatter that no one saw coming after the success the pair experienced in the regular season.If such speculation can be traced back to the Dallas series then the Thunder definitely will have something to prove against them next season. Los Angeles proved to be San Antonio's biggest roadblock to their playoff runs this past decade. The two would meet again in the 2010 NBA Playoffs in the second round. He wants to win a championship and may have learned something from Garnett's past endeavors.As a result, when the Magic play the Celtics they are playing for much more than a potential "W." They are playing to prove that a team built solely around one star is capable of being just as a effective as a team with multiple stars.With Howard's free agency period on the horizon, this rivalry is sure to heat up next season.The Philadelphia 76ers' rivalry with the Boston Celtics is a relatively unspoken one, yet it definitely exists.Boston and Philadelphia have met each other 18 times in the NBA playoffs, out of which the 76ers have won seven times.One of the best known battles between the two came in the 1981 postseason when the Celtics won a grueling seven-game series in the Eastern Conferences Finals against the 76ers. The number of times Detroit has faced Los Angeles in the finals makes the Lakers the clear choice as the Pistons' greatest rival. The most memorable moment of this rivalry is one that may kill Cavs fans to look back upon. The Knicks have been the greatest rival of the Chicago Bulls dating back to Michael Jordan's days in the NBA. Since the 2004–05 NBA season, there are 30 teams in six divisions of 5 teams each.
Additionally, Washington has not been able to shake the LeBron blues and have failed to make the playoffs since 2008.With both the Cavs and Wizards in rebuilding mode, it is unclear if and when this rivalry could be rekindled.One thing is certain though: if the rivalry is revived, LeBron won't be in Cleveland to stop the Wizards. The total interdivisional games an NBA team plays is 36.
Fans got to see two of the greatest square off against each other in Julius Erving of the 76ers and Larry Bird of the Celtics.The two teams would met a total of four times in the 1980s, but did not face off again in the postseason until the first round of the 2002 NBA Playoffs, when the Celtics beat the 76ers in five games.This rivalry has died down substantially over the years, but not completely.
The history is so rich between the two that the rivalry will probably never cease to exist.