Can it really be considered a rivalry if one side always gets the best of their opponent? These NBA match-ups, involving both individuals and teams, put that concept to the test to varying degrees over the years.
1) Celtics vs. Lakers, 1958-1969
2) Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain, 1959-1969
Applying the term "one-sided" to an NBA rivalry will inevitably always start with Bill Russell. He was such a dominating force during his 13 years in the league that the careers of anybody who played in the '60s are measured by his yardstick. The two epitomes of that axiom are Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Baylor came to the NBA in 1958, two years after Russell, and became an instant sensation with the Lakers. He was an 11-time All-Star and easily one of the greatest players in league history, but his career is ultimately defined by his team's inability to defeat Russell's Celtics in the NBA Finals. It's stock trivia now, but still worth repeating: Baylor's Lakers lost to Russell's Celtics in the Finals seven times: 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1969. The regular season was no picnic either. With only a handful of teams in the league in the late '50s and early '60s, the Lakers and Celtics played often in the regular season, and in Baylor's rookie year, '58-'59, the Celtics won all nine match-ups (they also swept the Finals that year for an overall 13-0 advantage). The Celtics won 25 of the first 28 regular season match-ups in the Russell vs. Baylor era, and had an overall record of 64-31 over the course of 11 seasons. '62-'63 and '68-'69 stand as the only seasons the Lakers won more often in the rivalry (5 to 4 and 4 to 2, respectively). As for Chamberlain, he would have been happy to even reach the NBA Finals because his teams kept bumping up against the Celtics in the Conference Finals. Chamberlain's Philadelphia Warriors lost to Boston in the 1960 and 1962 Eastern Conference Finals, then switched to the Western Conference and lost to Boston in the 1964 NBA Finals. Back in the East in 1964 after being traded to the 76ers, Chamberlain played against and lost to Russell's Celtics again in the 1965, 1966, 1968 Conference Finals. His Philly team did finally break through and triumph over their tormentors in 1967, but overall Chamberlain's playoff series record against Russell's teams was 1-7. After joining the Lakers in 1968, Chamberlain teamed up with Baylor in the 1969 Finals to do what they did best, lose to the Celtics and Russell, who retired after that series. With Boston's star finally out the way, Chamberlain led the Lakers to the 1972 championship, but Baylor wasn't there, having retired earlier in that season due to his failing knees.
3) Bulls vs. Cavaliers, 1988-1994
4) Bulls vs. Knicks, 1989-1998
Though not quite to the level of Bill Russell's Celtics in the '60s, Michael Jordan's Bulls certainly dominated the NBA '90s. His Chicago teams struggled in the playoffs early in Jordan's career, but still got in some devastating postseason victories over the Cavs and Knicks. In '87-'88 the Bulls broke through for their first 50-win season in the Jordan era and the Cavs, buoyed by coach Lenny Wilkens and star players Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, and Ron Harper were in the playoffs as a six seed. The two met in the first round in a close five-game series, with Jordan scoring 39 points in the clinching win. In 1989 they met again in the first round, this time with the seeds reversed but the series again going the full five, with all games decided by single digits. In game five the final two of Jordan's 44 points came on "The Shot," his iconic game-winning basket over Craig Ehlo. Chicago then upset the Knicks in the second round, with Jordan scoring 40 points and hitting the game winning free throws in the game six clincher. The Bulls and Knicks met again in 1991 in the first round, but by then Chicago was the cream of the crop of the Eastern Conference and easily swept the Knicks. In 1992 the Bulls took down the Knicks in the second round and the Cavs in the Conference Finals en route to another title. In 1993 the series order reversed, with Chicago taking over the Cavs in the second round and then the Knicks in the Conference Finals, a series that included the game that infamously closed out with Charles Smith getting blocked four consecutive times. Even with Jordan in baseball purgatory in 1994, the Bulls still continue their dominance of Cleveland, sweeping them in the first round in the last series of the Price and Daugherty era. But the Knicks finally got a semblance of revenge on the Bulls that year, defeating them in a second round series en route to an NBA Finals appearance. When Jordan returned it was business as usual in 1996, with the Bulls defeating the Knicks in the second round.
5) Lakers vs. Kings, 2000-2004
Though they resided in the same state and played in the some division once the Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento, the Lakers and Kings never really saw each other as rivals in the '80s and '90s. It's more accurate to say the Lakers never saw Sacramento as rivals because Sacramento were never worthy of the their time, as the Kings had just two playoff appearances in their first 13 seasons in California, both first round losses (in fact, after relocating to Sacramento in 1984, the Kings lost 32 of their next 34 games against the Lakers). Rebuilt astutely around Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, and Jason Williams, the team snuck into the playoffs in the '98-'99 lockout season as an six seed but almost upset the two-time defending conference champion Jazz in the first round. As Los Angeles were acsending to their throne in '99-'00 as the best team in basketball, the Kings were making back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in 19 years, and gave the top-seeded Lakers a tough fight in a five-game first round series where the home team won every contest. With the addition of Doug Christie and the emergence of Peja Stojakovic, Sacramento became a legitimate contender in '00-'01 and secured the West's three seed, but were dominated by Los Angeles in a second round series that included Kobe Bryant torching Christie for 48 points in game four. The Kings tweaked the roster and improved even more in '01-'02, with Mike Bibby taking over at point guard and Hedo Turkoglu breaking out as a threat, and despite losing three of four to the Lakers in the regular season, Sacramento entered the playoffs as the top seed. That gave them home court advantage over Los Angeles in the Conference Finals, a incredible series marked by Robert Horry's logic-defying deflected buzzer beater winner in game four, the controversial officiating in game six, and the frightened Kings' complete mental breakdown in game seven, especially Peja Stojakovic who air balled a three-pointer late in regulation that may have clinched the game. After the Lakers won their third straight NBA title that year, the next preseason saw Shaquille O'Neal denigrating their rivals as the "Sacramento Queens" and respective team enforcers Christie and Rick Fox engage in a fight so intense, it supposedly carried over into the tunnel after both players were ejected. The Kings finally split the regular season series that year, and the Lakers were finally dethroned as Western Conference champs, but not by Sacramento, who fell in the second round to Dallas. The teams seemed destined to meet again in the 2004 Western Conference Finals, but the Kings couldn't get past the Timberwolves in the second round. Shaq was traded that summer and Sacramento started dismantling their core veteran roster, kicking off a rebuilding project that has yet to resurface a winner.
6) Knicks vs. Heat 1997-2000
They met four straight years in the playoffs starting in 1997 and though each series went the full length, only one wasn't won by New York. The rivalry really started in 1995, when Pat Riley stepped down as Knicks head coach because the franchise wouldn't grant him more personnel decision power. Miami was willing to bestow him that control plus more benefits, so he took over for the Heat. Knicks management accused Miami of tampering, and the NBA agreed, ordering the Heat to send New York a first round pick and cash in retribution. The die was cast, and in 1996 the Knicks hired another hard-nosed, defensive-minded coach in Jeff Van Gundy. Most people remember the ensuing brute paint battles, and all out brawls that occurred during their playoff games, especially when Van Gundy grabbed onto Alonzo Mourning's leg to try and subdue (or at least slow down) the big man during a bench-clearing altercation. What many people forget is how much the Knicks dominated the rivalry, despite the Heat's possession of Riley. The first playoff series, a second round battle royale in 1997, went the way of Miami, but not without controversy. With the Knicks leading the series 3-1 and looking dominant, many claim that Riley instructed his players to try and incite fights with New York's players to draw them into suspension-worthy activities. P.J. Brown did just that late in game five, body-slamming Charlie Ward and inciting a bench clearing brawl that led to suspensions for Knicks stars Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, and John Starks. Severely short-handed as a result, the Knicks lost games six and seven and missed out on what many New York fans still think was their best chance of beating the Michael Jordan Bulls (Miami went on to lose to Chicago in the Conference Finals). New York got their revenge the next season in a first round series that included the infamous Mourning-Johnson fight that led to Van Gundy's ankle ride. With Mourning suspended for game five due to that incident, the Knicks fended off a ridiculous shooting performance from Tim Hardaway's to put away the series. In 1999 the Heat were the top seed and considered a title contender, but the Knicks became just the second eight seed in NBA history to pull off a first round upset, with Allan Houston hitting the series clincher in game five, a confounding 78-77 final score. They played one final time in the second round in 2000 in maybe the craziest series in the rivalry, with the Knicks winning again in seven games. The rivalry waned after that as both teams slipped into sustained mediocrity, but the influence reverberated for years as the impetus for the NBA to alter some rules and regulations to discourage the ugly defensive style that defined the Knicks-Heat battles.
7) Spurs vs. Suns, 1992-2010
A "rivalry" that started in the early '90s, peaked in the mid '00s, and ended around 2010, when Steve Nash started to fade and the Suns slipped into sustained mediocrity. One constant throughout those years is the Spurs seemed to always get the better of the Suns, one way or another. The teams met four times in the playoffs in the '90s, with the Suns actually winning the first two, though one of them was due in large part to David Robinson being out with an injury. San Antonio's dominance started in 1996, when Robinson led the way to a first round series in what turned out to be Charles Barkley's final games in a Suns uniform. They met again in the first round two years later, with Robinson and rookie Tim Duncan proving too much for an undermanned Phoenix front line. Phoenix got the better of San Antonio one last time in 2000, with Duncan this time missing the series due to an injury, but the Spurs would dominate the rest of the decade.
2003: Phoenix is just starting to put it together with Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and a rookie Amare Stoudemire and reach the playoffs as an eight seed, but they run into a buzzsaw in the first round, with Duncan leading the way in a six game victory en route to their second NBA title.
2005: This time the Suns roll into the Conference Finals as the West's top seed, but Joe Johnson is forced to miss the series with an eye injury, and the Spurs put them away in five games, despite Stoudmire scoring 30+ points in every game. San Antonio goes on to defeat Detroit in the NBA Finals for their third title.
2007: One year after losing to Dallas in the Conference Finals thanks in large part to a Stoudemire injury, Phoenix is again the higher seed against San Antonio, this time in a second round series and this time fully healthy for game one. Bad luck struck the Suns again though, starting with a Nash nose injury in game one that caused profuse bleeding and forcing him to sit out most of crunch time as the Spurs stole a road win. Then in game four, with the Suns leading late and about to even up the series 2-2, Robert Horry essentially hip-checked Nash into the scorer's table. Horry, by then just a role player, was suspended two games, but Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were also suspended a game each for leaving the bench after the Horry hit. Short handed, the Suns lost in a valiant effort in game five, and the Spurs then put the series away in six games before winning their fourth NBA championship a couple weeks later.
2008: Struggling to revamp around a renewed interior game built around free agent acquisition Shaquille O'Neal, the Suns slumped to a six seed and had the misfortunate of matching up against the Spurs in the first round. Just as Phoenix looked like it might steal game one in San Antonio, Duncan hit an incredible buzzer beater, his first three-pointer made of the season, to force a second overtime, and Ginobili put the game away in double overtime with a game-winning layup. The Spurs went on to win the series in five games.
2010: This time it was San Antonio that struggled during the regular season, slipping all the way down to a seven seed, and Phoenix finally got the better of them in a playoff series, sweeping the Spurs in the second round before losing to the Lakers in the Conference Finals. Overall, the playoff series record in this rivalry is 6-4 Spurs, but the NBA titles won is 5-0 and that makes all the difference.
8) Cavaliers vs. Wizards, 2006-2008
Whereas most rivalries grow from proximity breeding contempt, or frequent intense playoff match-ups, here's one that incubated out of two teams that just seemed to hate each other. The Cavs and Wizards both ended long playoff droughts in the mid '00s, with Washington rebuilding around the Gilbert Arenas/Antawn Jamison/Caron Butler triumvirate, and Cleveland riding the wave of their basketball messiah, LeBron James. They met in the first round of the 2006 playoffs in the first playoff series of James' career. It was an epic affair, with four of the six games decided in the final minute, three of them by just one point. James tallied a triple-double in his playoff debut with 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, and hit the winning shots in games three and five. Arenas was similarly incredible during the series, averaging 34 points per game, and hitting a clutch three-pointer that sent game six to overtime. But Damon Jones ended up being the unsung hero that night, clinching the series for Cleveland with an overtime game winning jumper. Animosity between the teams only grew into the next spring, but by then the Cavs had emerged as the clearly better team. In a first round rematch, Cleveland won this time in a sweep, despite Jamison leading all scorers with 32 points per game. They met one more time in the first round in 2008, this time with the storyline revolving around DeShawn Stevenson, who had called James "overrated" after a regular season matchup. In a series of events that somehow involved rapper Soulja Boy as an unofficial Wizards mascot and Jay-Z recording a Stevenson diss track, Cleveland and Washington played another tight series, with the Cavs once again prevailing in six games. After Arenas suffered various injuries and then was suspended indefinitely for storing firearms in his locker, the Wizards fell apart for several seasons before rebuilding around John Wall. But no matter how much the team was struggling, fans would get amped for every opportunity to boo LeBron when he came to town, be it with the Cavs or Heat.
9) Rockets vs. Spurs, 1976-1995
Sometimes referenced as the I-10 Rivalry, due to the respective cities' transportability along Interstate 10, it all started when the Spurs merged from the ABA in 1976. At the time the Rockets were the only NBA team in Texas, a distinction they had held since moving from San Diego four years earlier. With both teams strangely placed in the Eastern Conference in the same division, the rivalry became natural and they split the next three Central Division titles. They met in the first round of the 1980 playoffs, with the Rockets winning the series in a three-game sweep, taking advantage of San Antonio's porous defense to accumulate 141 points in the closing game. The teams shifted to the Western Conference in '80-'81, when George Gervin and James Silas led the Spurs to the two seed. But the Rockets got the upper hand in their second round matchup, upsetting their rivals in seven games and eventually reaching the NBA Finals. The rivalry remained heated throughout the decade, but the stakes waned heavily as the Spurs struggled after trading Gervin, and didn't become a contender again until David Robinson joined the squad in 1992. Instantly one of the league's best centers, Robinson reignited the feud as he challenged the supremacy of Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon. After taking home MVP and Finals MVP trophies in 1994 while leading the Rockets to their first ever title, Olajuwon felt slighted when San Antonio outpaced them in the standings in '94-'95 and the MVP award was given to Robinson. Heading into the Conference Finals as a six seed, Olajuwon carried the Rockets to an upset of the top-seeded Spurs, completely dressing down Robinson and almost toying with him like a predator with their prey. Though both teams remained solid, the rivalry sort of fizzled from there, as the Rockets fell out of title contention for two decades and the Spurs cultivated rivalries with the Lakers, Suns, and Mavericks. Things may have been renewed in 2017, when the teams faced off in the postseason for the first time since 1995, with Kawhi Leonard leading the Spurs to a six game victory over James Harden's Rockets.
10) Celtics vs. Hawks, 1983-1988
The Dominique Wilkins era Hawks may have been the best team in league history to never even reach a Conference Finals, let alone an NBA Finals, and the major reason why was Larry Bird and the Celtics. The rivalry essentially peaked and ended in the 1988 playoffs, with the legendary Wilkins vs, Bird game seven duel, which marked the best and last chance for Atlanta to reach as far as the Conference Finals. The seeds of the rivalry were actually sewn back in the early years of the league, when Red Auerbach was originally hired to coach the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (who soon moved to Milwaukee, then St. Louis, then Atlanta) but quit after one year due to disagreements with the owner, and signed on with the Celtics. He went on to win 16 titles with the Celtics as coach, general manager and president, three of which came at the expense of the then St. Louis Hawks in 1958, 1960, and 1961. Already a postseason regular when they traded for Wilkins in 1982, Atlanta became a serious threat at that point, just as the Celtics were starting to overtake Philadelphia as the East's best team. In Wilkins' rookie year, the Hawks gave Boston all they could handle in a first round series, losing the game three rubber match (it was the last year that the NBA staged three-game playoff series) in a contest that featured Tree Rollins biting Danny Ainge during a melee. By 1986 the Hawks had a built a solid team, adding Doc Rivers, Spud Webb, and Kevin Willis around Wilkins, but after winning the first playoff series of Wilkins' career, they ran into the '86 Celtics juggernaut in round two and dropped the series in five games. Atlanta lost to Boston again in the second round in 1987, but the 1988 playoffs looked like a legitimate chance for them to finally upend their tormentors. Boston was seemingly aging in dog years by then, and the Hawks stole game five in Boston Garden to take a 3-2 series lead. After the Celtics came back to Atlanta and won game six, the stage was set for Bird and Wilkins in game seven. Though Wilkins was awe-inspiring, finishing with 47 points on 19-of-33 shooting, Bird responded with 20 points in the fourth quarter, willing his team to a 118-116 win. Though both teams would find varying levels of success in the '90s, they wouldn't meet in the playoffs again until 2008, when the Celtics appropriately won again in seven games.
11) 76ers vs. Bucks, 1981-1991
When Don Nelson took over as coach of Milwaukee in 1978 they were still reeling from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's departure three years prior. He immediately turned the team around, rebuilding through the draft with Marques Johnson, Sidney Moncrief, and Junior Bridgeman and the Bucks reached the playoffs 11 straight seasons between 1981 and 1992. They faced Philadelphia at some point in seven of those playoff trips, and lost in five of them. The Sixers were nearly unbeatable at the Spectrum in the early '80s and Milwaukee found out the hard way in a 1981 series when Julius Erving and Philadelphia won all four games against the Bucks at home including a one-point victory in game seven. Milwaukee managed to steal a game in Philly in a rematch in the second round in 1982, but lost two of out three at the Mecca and the Sixers advanced in six games. After the Bucks upset the Celtics in the second round in 1983, they got another shot at Philadelphia in the Conference Finals. But this Sixers team had added Moses Malone and was seemingly unstoppable. They defeated Milwaukee in five games, and that one Bucks win was the only loss Philly suffered during those playoffs en route to winning the championship. An aging Sixers team got the better of Milwaukee again in 1985, this time in a second round sweep, but Milwaukee finally got a measure of revenge in 1986. Featuring a well-balanced lineup highlighted by Sidney Moncrief, Terry Cummings, and Ricky Pierce, the Bucks finally had home court advantage over Philadelphia that year and made it count. Though a young Charles Barkley had been added to supplement the aging Sixers roster, they were without Malone due to back surgery. Though overmatched on paper, Philadelphia proved their championship heart one more time, pushing the Bucks to the end before finally succumbing after Julius Erving missed a potential series winning shot in the waning moments of game seven. Milwaukee got the better of Philadelphia one more time in a first round series in 1987, but the Sixers got the final word in this rivalry with a 1991 first round sweep.
12) Knicks vs. Nets, 1976-Current
13) Lakers vs. Clippers, 1984-2013, 2018-?
Adjacency is almost always the foremost impetus in great sports rivalries, from Duke vs. North Carolina to Bears vs. Packers to Giants vs. Dodgers to Ohio State vs. Michigan. The two factions in each of these NBA rivalries have been sharing a TV market for over four decades, and in the case of Lakers-Clippers, the same arena since 1999. But these are situations where a big brother-little brother dynamic has dominated the framework. Though they started playing home games in Teaneck, New Jersey, the Nets moved to Long Island in 1968 as the ABA looked to expand into the country's biggest potential fanbase. They entered the NBA via merger in 1976 having won two of the final three ABA titles, and sporting star players Julius Erving and Tiny Archibald. But ownership was caught off-guard when they were forced to pay an exorbitant "invasion" fee to the Knicks, leading to Erving's departure after the team was too cash-strapped to properly extend his contract (the Nets actually offered Erving's contract to the Knicks as payment for their "invasion" fee, but the Knicks turned it down). After struggling to make ends meet in their first season, owner Ray Boe decided to move back to Jersey, and in a final insult added to injury, was forced to pay the Knicks another four million dollar fee for the rights to move. In their inaugural NBA season, the Nets finished 22-60 overall, but won a moral victory by splitting their four games with the Knicks. In fact, on paper this rivalry looks pretty even over the last 40 years. The Knicks hold only a slight advantage over the Nets in regular season head-to-head matchups, a two-to-one edge in playoff series face-offs (each in the first round), and each team has the same amount of post-merger Finals appearances (two) and titles (zero). But even with both teams slumping in the standings and the Nets' recent relocation to Brooklyn, there's no doubt the Knicks have always been the kings of the New York area, playing in the temple of Madison Square Garden. They still have all the celebrity fans, all the biggest free agent and trade rumors, and remain shorthand for basketball in New York.
As for the Lakers and Clippers, this was a dominant sibling rivalry on a large scale until only recently. When Donald Sterling bought the Clippers in 1981, his first order of business was moving the team from San Diego to his native Los Angeles, and within three years the team was playing their home games at the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena, sharing real estate with USC. That venue had been a previous home of the Lakers until they moved ten miles away to the Forum in 1967, so the rivalry began with both teams playing at different home arenas. Though the Clippers had some decent players around the time of their move, including former Lakers star Norm Nixon, they mostly languished in the standings, far behind the Showtime Lakers that were winning championships with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It took the Clippers 10 tries to finally win a game against their new cross-town rivals, and six full seasons before they finally emerged victorious from the Forum, in a 1991 overtime thriller played just a few weeks after Johnson had announced his retirement due to contracting HIV. Disappointed by the decrepit Sports Arena location and frustrated by several aborted attempts to build a replacement, Sterling started threatening to move the Clippers to Anaheim in the mid '90s, but was coaxed to stay by an agreement where his team would share space with the Lakers at the new Staples Center. Though the arena was ostensibly built for the teams to share, there was no doubt who was the true "home" team, as the Lakers got the bigger locker room, all the banners in the rafters (the Clippers had never even won a division title at that point), and the color scheme of purple seats in the stands. Though the Clippers have overtaken the Lakers as the better team in Los Angeles in the last few years, they still lack any accomplishments of note, having never advanced past the second round of the playoffs. And this brief upper hand from the Clippers has likely come to an end with LeBron James now donning purple and gold for the foreseeable future.