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Sports rivalries rule. I grew up during the early-2000s Red Sox-Yankees battles. I’ll never forget swinging from the absolute heartbreak of Aaron Boone’s home run in 2003 to complete euphoria the following October, when the Sox cowboyed up, erased a 3-0 deficit and finally broke the curse.
I also got to experience the Celtics-Lakers rivalry returning to the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010, when the animosity between the teams and their fans felt almost as important as the basketball itself. Those games were appointment television, and I’m still fiending for another Celtics-Lakers Finals.
LOS ANGELES – DECEMBER 25: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers gets into an argument with Paul Pierce #34 and Kevin Garnett #5 of the Boston Celtics during their game at Staples Center on December 25, 2008 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2008 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The NBA has produced some incredible rivalries throughout its history, but it feels like fewer of them have much staying power anymore. Players are constantly switching teams, contenders fall apart and yesterday’s bitter enemies become tomorrow’s podcast guests. Sometimes we’re told two teams are rivals simply because the league scheduled them on Christmas or they’re playing during Rivals Week, presented by Amazon Web Services. Because nothing screams genuine hatred like a comprehensive cloud computing platform.
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Anyway, the Boston Celtics play the Philadelphia 76ers tonight.
In the lead-up, I’ve been thinking about what makes a great NBA rivalry and how many of those ingredients are present in the current relationship between Boston and Philadelphia. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that we’re watching one of the league’s oldest rivalries return to something resembling its best form.
Joel Embiid famously declared back in 2018 that Celtics-Sixers wasn’t much of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/celtics-vs-sixers-everything-great-110000793.html
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Publish date : 2026-11-10 11:00:00
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