The Olden Days

Waldini:

Realist, I remember when you brought this up and ironically NBA Coast to Coast discussed this 2nite. Whatever happened to the great NBA rivalries. Coast to Coast went through the following rivalries 2nite

Wilt's Sixers vs Bill's Celtics
Julius' Sixers vs Larry's Celtics
Magic's Lakers vs Larry's Celtics
Isaiah's Pistons vs Michael's Bulls
Patrick's Knicks vs Michael's Bulls
Patrick's Knicks vs Reggie's Pacers
Patrick's Knicks vs Alonzo's Heat

After that, they ask, What has happened to the rivalries? And the only one I could think of that was as heated as the one above was the Kings-Lakers and I'm reachin on that one. Man...it was all a dream

Da Realist:

isiah's pistons vs larry's celtics

and what about the lesser rivalries like

kj's suns vs magic's lakers
drexler's trailblazers vs magic's lakers
payton/kemp's sonics vs stockton/malone's jazz

they were all interesting to watch. i don't know why rivalries no longer exist because the decline of the quality of play doesn't matter if every team is basically on the same playing field.

my guess would be this: i don't think the players care as much about winning as they did back then. i like how you assigned each team to its marquee player because that's where it ultimately starts. those guys had enough pride to make them compete every year against that team they
couldn't get past. marquee players today just don't care. tracy mcgrady, vince carter, dirk nowitzki, ray allen, etc just don't care enough to compete extra hard against that team they couldn't beat the year before. kobe and iverson are probably the only real superstar
competitors out there. can't have rivalries without willing competitors.

the closest thing we got is pistons/spurs today.

Gangsta D

Someone made the point that NBA players are too nice nowadays. They share agents, hang out during the regular season, etc. There's just no sustained animosity any more. You'd think that after Rasheed "Clubber Langed" Big Z, that that might inspire something in the Cavs. Not even
close. I think the clamp down on fighting and not being able to leave the bench has a lot to do with it. Look at the 80's and early 90's rivalries. they were always getting into it. that inspired passion and animosity. Just don't have it nowadays.

Da Realsit:

yep. the nba is so prosperous that everyone has a huge piece of the pie. what's there to be mad about when you're a multi-millionaire? in the 90's, at least some of the endorsements available were given to players that had experienced some success. michael was the only one with his own shoe deal, for instance (other players like magic, larry and dominique endorsed shoes). now EVERYBODY got their own shoe. c'mon, remember the spreewell's with the spinning rims? c'mon...

oh by the way, y'all know i'm LOVING that new jordan commercial!

Waldini:

New Jordan commercial is tight

I'm not saying I want the NBA to turn into WWE and cats are fighting every night but if you get elbowed in the face (see Zydrunas) and get a home game the next night against the same man (see Sheed) who did it to you, you gotta give a lil payback

But more than likely, those cats prbly ended up at the club 2gether that night talking about life. I mean I miss times like when the Rockets came back from a 2-0 and 3-1 defiicit to beat the Suns. I remember AC Green saying when it was 3-1, the series was over and no way the Rockets come back. Well they did and Kenny Smith was like "AC may be religious but he
aint a prophet." Subtle but hilarious....

The sad part is the NBA was hurt from a marketing standpoint when Shaq and Kobe squashed their feud in Jan

Da Realist:

nah, not really. those guys weren't gonna meet in the playoffs (finals) anyway. i never read that kenny smith quote. very good quote.

y'all remember (and i know you do) back in 93, the lakers had the suns down 2-0 going home for games 3 and 4? a #1 seed losing 2-0 to a #8 seed? game 5 went to overtime before the suns pulled it out. classic, although i was hoping the lakers pulled off history. this was the year before motumbo's nuggets beat the sonics.

Gangsta D:

Of course we remember! I mas talking mad ish after game 2. We should've won game 4 and 5, but Worthy just couldn't pull it out...

Waldini:

Dayum right. I remember being in Physical science and some clown was trying to insinuate I wasnt a true Laker fan. I said oh really...here's starting 5 for that squad

Sedale Threatt - PG
Byron Scott - SG
Big Game James Worthy - SF
Big Easy Elden Campbell - PF
Vlade Dodi Divac - C

Shoot, I was heated about Game 5 b/c Big Easy was going off. I got too excited when LA won the first 2 games and was already talking about playing Seattle :-)