Quick, name the current best rivalry in the NBA. Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors, right? What about the second best? Anything?
Despite what LeBron James thinks, the Cavs and Warriors take the current crown of the NBA’s best rivalry. Now there might be some good individual rivalries like LeBron versus Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard or even Stephen Curry but a majority of the time, The King comes out on top. Dennis Schroder said Isaiah Thomas cursed at his mom but the perennial All-Star quickly denied those claims. There could be something brewing between Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook but so far KD has reigned supreme over his old teammate.
There are some smaller spats like the DeMarcus Cousins and Meyers Leonard beef or even the issue between Carmelo Anthony and referees, in particular, their whistles, but nothing is moving the needle. The current NBA is long gone from the days of Magic versus Bird or the Lakers versus the Celtics and then later on the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons or even the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal Lakers against the Sacramento Kings. But there might be a new rivalry brewing.
The recently surging Washington Wizards, winners in eight of their last ten games, and the Boston Celtics might be the new rivalry the NBA needs and they have already started beefing. It started in early 2016 with Marcus Smart hitting Bradley Beal so hard that Beal suffered a concussion. Reportedly over the summer, Jae Crowder told Al Horford not to sign with the Wizards because the Wiz couldn’t beat the Celtics. It carried over into this season with John Wall and Jae Crowder getting into a heated exchange leading to an ejection.
But everyone remembers the last time these two teams faced off. Following the C’s win over the Wizards just about two weeks ago in Boston, there was a small altercation at center court. Jae Crowder and John Wall went face to face, Crowder proceeded to poke John Wall in the nose, Wall attempted a slap and the two sides had to be separated. It was a heated confrontation and prompted Otto Porter to declare the Celtics play dirty.
So what’s in store for their next matchup on Tuesday night? Well, the Wizards are planning to wear all black ahead of their home game against the Celtics.
As you can imagine, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas didn’t pay too much mind to the clothing choices of the Wizards. Thomas even went on to say their choice to wear all black was ‘cute’.
But despite Crowder and Thomas not paying mind to the Wizards attire, they are well aware of how well the guys from DC have been playing at home, currently in the middle of a 13 game home winning streak. Thomas also had some high praise for the Wizards leader John Wall.
The one notable recent instance of a team wearing all black heading into a game was, of course, the Knicks 2013 playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Kenyon Martin told his teammates to wear all black ahead of their potential series-clinching game five, but the Celtics turned the tables on the Knicks and won the contest to force a game six. Eventually, the Knicks did win the series but they did have a small hiccup in their path to victory.
It might not be a rivalry right now but depending on what happens tonight in the nation’s capitol, there might be something new to talk about once the game is over. Plus, John Wall and Isaiah Thomas going shot for shot, play for play would be a fantastic sight to see. Also, there’s at least one more matchup coming in March, so here’s to a fantastic setup for the season finale.
