Owner Real Deal Posted October 21, 2010 Owner Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Be sure to bold your vote, then follow it up with an argument as to why you believe that rivalry is deserving of the vote. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingfish Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Magic and Bird Self explanatory. I mean they even faced off in college for example. LA vs Boston, both were elite players and the teams rivalry is the biggest even to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deestillballin Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Larry Bird and Magic Johnson I honesty believe this is were ALL NBA Rivalry began Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clutch Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 wade and bron had a very healthy (friendlier) and exciting rivalry pre-decision - i think i will go with them, their individual match up games have been ridiculous to watch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Check my Stats Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Magic and Bird, we will never see anything like that again. Everyone in the NBA is friends now, the competition is so meh, the next star who comes into the league with swagger will be fined to the point they show no emotion to even create a rivalry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Penny Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Magic and Bird for reasons allready stated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YugoRocketsFan Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 Dumb question, its obviously Magic-Bird, its the most obvious thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BasX Posted October 21, 2010 Report Share Posted October 21, 2010 (edited) I'll throw a diff one out there, Wilt-Russel, there friends turned enemy(ish) story is kinda cool and though Russel won many more titles, Wilt had the individual success Edited October 21, 2010 by BasX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AboveLegit Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Yeah I don't think anyone can bring up a better rivalry than Magic-Bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzfan Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 (edited) Magic and Bird. I like that Wilt and Russ were thrown and they can make a case for 2nd but IMO it's Bird and Magic by a long shot. I don't think Lebron and Wade should be mentioned, even before they joined forces. They never really battled it out hardcore, never really met in the playoffs and combined they boast a total of one ring.On the other hand, first of all, Magic and Bird would not have joined together, even given the opportunity because they were so focused on beating the other. They had countless good battles and every time the Lakers/Celtics met, something big was about to go down, and they faced each other in the Finals more than any other rivalry. It even dates back to college so how can you not go with these guys. Edited October 22, 2010 by Jazzfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JYD Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Magic vs. Bird immediately came to my mind first... However, an underrated and less talked about rivalry was Ewing vs. Mourning in the 1990's. That was epic...some truly great battles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The REAL STL10 Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Magic and Bird during the early 80's Maybe even Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan in the late 80's. Overall though, Magic and Bird can't be beat for obvious reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 However, an underrated and less talked about rivalry was Ewing vs. Mourning in the 1990's. That was epic...some truly great battles. Great call. Those really were some of the hardest, most physical games I've ever watched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver P Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry "Legend" Bird Yeah I agree with most people here I do not see how a case can be made against this legendary rivalry... Well yes a case could eventually be made for Wilt vs Russell though, as Basx said. They are definitely a close second IMO. In fact the Wilt vs Russell and Magic vs Bird rivalries are the only ones who dominated an entire decade. As a matter of fact Fulks dominated the late 40's, Mikan the 50's, Alcindor (AKA Jabbar) the 70's and Jordan the 90's. Only the 60's and 80's were dominated by a rivalry, Wilt vs Bill in the 60's and Magic vs Bird in the 80's so. And that is why the greatest rivalry can only be one of those two. I put Magic vs Bird over Wilt vs Bill though, this because first well the 60's were just another era. I mean it was still the beginning of basketball and the league was quite different then, there were only way less teams (8 in 1960, 14 in 1969) and it was easier to dominate then. Second because the decade was clearly dominated by Russell, or rather Russell's team, the Celtics. When you think of the 60's you first think of the Celtics and the 9 rings they won in that decade (plus 2 in the late 50's). Due to the domination of Russell's team it is hard to really consider it as a true rivalry. On top of that it is important to take in consideration the fact that the NBA started to really become huge in the 80's thanks to the arrival of both Stern and Jordan and of course of the Celtics' Bird and Johnson's Lakers rivalry. I would even say that our era's basketball truly started in the late 70's/80's with the arrival of Bird and Magic. And contrary to the Wilt vs Russell's rivalry we cannot say that, even if the Lakers won two more rings than the Celtics, neither team dominated the other. A true rivalry indeed. So for all these reasons Magic vs Bird is definitely the obvious choice here IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Pablo Posted November 2, 2010 Report Share Posted November 2, 2010 I always loved to watch Reggie Miller vs John Starks...oh and by the way I HATE John Starks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas45champs Posted November 3, 2010 Report Share Posted November 3, 2010 (edited) http://www.blogcdn.com/nba.fanhouse.com/media/2010/03/bird-magic-0310-420.jpg Magic and Bird is by far the best rivalry. First they meet up with each other in the NCAA championship in '79. Then there goes years of Lakers-Celtics in the finals. There hasn't ever been anything like that where the same two teams are just making the finals every year. They didn't hate each other; they loved beating each other though. They were actually great friends, but there was that competitiveness, because those were the days that it was debated who was the better player, and both had that desire to show each other up. These guys even checked each others box scores and wanted to beat each other night in and night out. About the part about the better player(BTW some of these reasons are why I question why people are so quick to put Magic over Bird all the time), well we see that in today's NBA. But today's NBA, first off, it's hardly about playing basketball anymore. Everything that's important to players is 1. Media and 2. Money. It's not about playing basketball for the love of the game. That's why Kobe-LeBron rivalry isn't nearly as great even though Magic has interviewed Kobe-LeBron about their "rivalry." Let alone Wade-LeBron, what? I'd even put Kobe-Shaq before either of those. Wilt - Russell rivalry was a good rivalry because Russell was probably the only player in the league that could stop Wilt. But the NBA wasn't exactly as competitive then. Shaq-Duncan might have sparked a little with Shaq's recent comment that he doesn't really care how many rings Kobe has, he cares how many Duncan has. But it's still just Bird Magic no question. Edited November 3, 2010 by sas45champs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miami Thrice 5 Posted November 10, 2010 Report Share Posted November 10, 2010 Reggie Miller and Spike Lee... CHOKE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rog Posted November 22, 2010 Report Share Posted November 22, 2010 Its not really a rivalry as they really don't play each other for more than a regular season win, but this recent Kobe vs Lebron stuff has be interesting indeed, but for all the things mentioned its easily Bid vs Magic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Swish* Posted November 22, 2010 Report Share Posted November 22, 2010 Magic and Bird IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenIverson#1fan Posted November 25, 2010 Report Share Posted November 25, 2010 No doubt magic and Bird. These two competed season after season game after game. They're the reason we have a Celtics Lakers rivalry today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloo Posted December 7, 2010 Report Share Posted December 7, 2010 I dunno guys.. The whole Stephon Marbury vs NY Knicks was pretty intense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headliner Posted December 9, 2010 Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 Magic and Bird They had the greatest rivalry that we've ever seen but the had a special friendship that you don't see when it comes to most rivalries and I think that is key and important. They pushed each other to their limits and most importantly they loved the NBA and the game of basketball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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