Akin to Miami Heat basketball, every once in a while, we get to experience something beautiful. Witnessing a lunar eclipse, visiting the grand canyon, watching an Orchid erupt into full bloom, or you know… the things we do not get to enjoy every day.
And on Monday, we all bore witness to another rare beauty: The creation of an NBA rivalry.
Such an event is so rare because divisions in the NBA are inconsequential to the playoff stacking. In other sports, however, rivalries are built into the season and amplified in the postseason.
In the arenas of college football and basketball, conference games are the heart of the season. The weight of the schedule rests on the conference slate.
The importance of each meeting, combined with the teams playing such important games over and over again, breeds rivalries. Conference Title bouts nurture these rivalries, where clashes allowed to fester during the season are settled on some of the sport’s biggest stages.
With the culmination of an entire season on the line, it is no wonder that rivalries like Duke & North Carolina, Michigan & Ohio State, Texas & Oklahoma, Alabama & Auburn and so many others on a list that could go on and on and on… are in-conference.
Miami Heat: The Denver Nuggets And The Making Of An NBA Rivalry
The NFL builds rivalries as well. In pro-football, the entire emphasis of the season is winning the division.
The mantra for teams preparing for drafts and free agency is to “build to beat your division.” Each year, divisional opponents play twice and become roadblocks to a spot in the playoffs.
Winning the division, not only, promises postseason opportunity but the chance at the coveted prize of home-field advantage. For every franchise, beating the teams in your division charts out a course and not just to the playoffs, but potentially the Super Bowl.
With so much on the line and such familiarity, it is only natural that rivalries spring up. The NFC East eats each other alive, year in and year out.
The NFC West has turned into a bloodbath and for years, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning was a Clash Of The Titans that, likely, determined who represented the AFC, which goes beyond simple divisions but still illustrates the overall concept. That’s just the nature of rivalry, especially in football.
But in basketball, winning games against anyone and everyone determines a spot in the playoffs—nothing more, nothing less. This means rivalries are rarer, like a gem in a cave.
It takes more pressure and more cataclysmic moments to unearth an NBA rivalry. This is what we witnessed on Monday night.
Miami Heat: With The Actions Taken Monday, Future Games Will Be Fireworks
NBA rivalries are born in the fire of playoff series or the drama of regular season chaos. It takes events like Paul George and the Pacers smashing into the Miami Heat and the Big 3 to make a rivalry in the postseason.
In the regular season, the events must be more eccentric. It takes Rajon Rondo spitting on Chris Paul to cultivate a rivalry on your run-of-the-mill NBA Wednesday.
Something like a late-game fight does just the trick. Whether you think Nikola Jockic or Markieff Morris is to blame, whether you believe one is a dirty player or that one is a cheap shot artist, none of it matters.
What truly matters is that something special was born Monday night. Something deliciously delightful was given to us, the NBA fans.
It only happens when the stars perfectly align and the madness reaches a fever pitch. An NBA rivalry has been born—gifted to us like an angel from above.
Miami plays the Denver Nuggets just one more time, on November 29th. Circle the game, clear your schedule, and get the popcorn ready.
This game is now must-see TV. Yes people.
This not a drill! We have ourselves a rivalry.