greatest rivalry ever

[magius]

magic vs bird?

wilt vs russell?

mj vs malone/reggie/drex/isiah/dumars?

hakeem vs shaq?

duncan vs shaq?

rodman vs malone?

am i missing one? sue me. ADD IT.

for me its wilt vs russell because they played each other so often and they actually PLAYED each other straight up on offesne and defense. A close 2 would be magic and bird because the history behind that is incredible. after that its pretty much a crap shoot

[Donte Thomas]

doug christie vs. rick fox

[Matthew]

Bird/Magic for mine. As you said, the history behind it, but also the way it launched the nba. Bird, a hard nosed white guy with all the confidence, and Magic, a flashy black guy. Both respected each other, played hard and played right. You can't beat that.
How about team rivalries?
My favourite is Bulls/Pistons... and give detroit all the credit, they held Jordan, Pippen, Grant and pax down for 3 straight years.

[Fresh8]

Iverson vs. training!

actually change it to Magic and Larry... that was a TRUE rivalry!

[Riot]

Shaq Vs. Kobe

[Mikki]

I love the Hakeem-Admiral matchup in the West Finals of 95.

Also the Ewing-Hakeem.

[Donte Thomas]

kobe vs. reggie/chris ward
alonzo mourning vs. patrick ewing
shaq vs. brad miller
gary payton vs. speedy claxton
those are the fighting categorie along with the rick fox / doug christie one.

but yours.................um.............i'm not sure.

[Jackal]

The logical choice would be to go with Magic & Larry since that's probably the most publicised rivalry ever. Man did those two put on shows.

I enjoyed watching Payton defend MJ too. The smack those two spat at each-other went on for a full 48 minutes. Their mouths were always moving.

Another one I enjoy watching (not very famous) is/was Lue on Iverson. I enjoyed that matchup.

[.]

Magic/Bird

[Andrew]

I'm a Michael Jordan fan, but for me he can't be included in any greatest rivalry debate because there was no nemesis, no "anti-Jordan" (though a lot of people certainly are or were anti-Jordan ). It doesn't diminish his greatness, but it does disqualify him from being part of a great individual rivalry. A case could be made for MJ vs Joe Dumars, but that just isn't on the same level as Wilt and Russell or Bird and Magic.

For me, those are the only two choices. I'm tempted to pick Magic and Bird because the wars they waged in the 80s seemed so evenly fought. They met in the Finals three times with Magic's Lakers winning twice, but every series went at least six games. Every Lakers/Celtics game was a big event. They went head to head in All-Star games and even Converse shoe commercials.

But Wilt and Russell faced each other more times than any other two players in the history of the NBA. Needless to say the fact there were less teams in the league during that era is the chief cause for that statistic, but their constant playoff battles coupled with the fact that Russell was seen as the man who could shut down Wilt make it a compelling rivalry.

But then again, it was often the Boston Celtics vs Wilt Chamberlain, "a five man answer to a one man problem". Bird and Magic's battles seemed to feature them as individuals, even though they seldom guarded each other except on switches. This again was probably due to the fact their teams were more evenly matched.

I think I'm going to have to pick Wilt vs Russell though, simply because of the number of times they faced each other in pretty much every possible matchup - regular season contests, All-Star games, Eastern Conference playoffs and in the NBA Finals.

[hmm]

.................................

[Boyk]

Larry Bird vs Magic Johnson

no doubt!

funniest thing was, they were best of mates lol.


But i cant wait to see the first game of Heat vs Lakers

[Jackal]

You folks need a life.

[Riot]

your the one with the Disney Thread

[Jackal]

Heh, one disney thread to the constant "I can't wait to see LA-Miami"?

Good Riot, good.

Jokes & reality, try to differeniate the two.

[Bill Russell]

IMO it's gonna be either Bird vs Magic or Wilt vs Russell

[FanOfAll]

Bird/Magic, Lakers/Celtics, Wilt/Russell, Knicks/Heat, Knicks/Pacers...

[Sauru]

bird and magic was easily the best rivalry ever. they were best of friends and best of rivals. it was great to watch. one thing i loved about bird, and for some reason alot of people dont seem to remember this, but bird was maybe the biggest trash talk ever. man could he run his mouth, and he pretty much always backed it up. i remember the story where during a timeout he walked over to the other bench and told them he was getting the ball and where he was gonna shoot it. he then of course nailed it and send them packing. stuff like that is just great.

anyway just to mix it up a bit i will give 2 more rivalries that were fun to watch, even if not considering among the best ever(though they are up there).

1. magic vs isiah. this was always fun to watch but imo not as good as my next rivalry.....

2. bird vs dominique. i will never forget the time these 2 played that game. you know the one, where they just went back and forth scoring on whoever was foolish enough to guard them. the shootout as it seems to be called today. i dont think this was as big a rivalry as magic/isiah, but it was definetly more fun for me to watch these 2 go head to head.

[patrixxx73]

Bird vs Magic (greatest rivalry of the 80's - White vs Black , Set Plays vs Fastbreaks)

Russel vs Wilt (classic rivalry of the 60's - Mr. Defense vs Mr. Offense)

Jordan vs Everyone (Bird, Magic, Dumars, Thomas, Payton, Wilkins, Ewing, Malone, Barkley, Miller, Drexler, His Team-mates, Gambling, Time, His Knee, Age, Himeself, etc... )

[Alcoholic]

Young Kobe vs Old (sort of, 30's) MJ

Shaq vs Vlade

[FanOfAll]

one thing i loved about bird, and for some reason alot of people dont seem to remember this, but bird was maybe the biggest trash talk ever. man could he run his mouth, and he pretty much always backed it up.

That is so true.

[toughthug]

larry bird vs magic johnson because everytime they met each other they where always playing for the championship in college and nba

[MaD_hAND1e]

Jordan vs Barkley

[Stevan]

Magic and Bird, the 80's were their decade.

Jordan was too good for everyone to have any strong rivalries, though you could say Jordan versus the Pistons.

Wilt and Russell? Russell won all the championships, was this even a rivalry? It was the Celtics spanking everyone

[Macca]

My all time favourite match-ups are Bird/Magic & Bill/Wilt [which, when you think about it, Bill vs. Wilt really started the whole Celtics vs. Lakers rivalries.]

Probably, some others; Hakeem vs. Ewing, Hill vs. Pippen, Kidd vs. Iverson- there are heaps, Kobe vs. T-Mac, Shaq vs. Yao (some modern day ones there.)

Throughout the years there have been some great ones but overall, the Celtics& Lakers match ups have been, no words to describe it. Best basketball ever played when those 2 teams meet. A lot of history, many championships, great legends have come from both teams, I mean, they are just two of the greats.

Macca