Your Top Rivalries for the 2013 Season

Post #1 » by **Mr. E** » Sat Aug 10, 2013 2:30 am

What are some of the rivalries you are looking forward to following this upcoming season.

I'll do a Top Five in countdown form:

5) Rockets vs. Thunder - so many things tying these teams together. The Thunder (along with the Spurs) are the top dogs. The Rockets are one of the teams on the rise. Harden has a lot to prove to his old teammates and will make each game a statement. Then there is Patrick Beverley, whom we as Rockets Fans know is totally and completely awesome, but he may be less welcome in Oklahoma than the UT Longhorns for some reason.

4) Knicks vs. Nets - Yeah, this will pretty much be a media-manufactured rivalry, but considering some of the personalities involved it could be very entertaining. No offense to our Knick friends, but in Kevin Garnett the most dominant personality of those teams now belongs to the Nyets. KG and PP are coming to make that town their own. NY feels disrespected and will protect their turf from the team across the bridge. There are enough knuckleheads on these rosters to make for some entertaining off-court excitement!

3) Heat vs. Pacers - Top two teams in the East. I see them as kind of a poor man's version of Showtime vs. the Bad Boys (Miami taking the former role, Indy the latter). The bottom line is that these are the two best teams in the East who were built in entirely different ways. This isn't just a clash of two basketball teams, this is a clash of culture. This will be a heated rivalry.

2) David Stern vs. Greg Popovich - "Once more unto the breach, old friends. Once more." The final standoff between two Titans. Two of the most stubborn men in NBA history who don't give a damn what anyone thinks of them and thrive upon controversy. I fully expect David Stern to make sure that Pop remembers him, and that Pop wants Stern to go into retirement knowing that ultimately he won. The final showdown...this could be EPIC! REST THY STARTERS AND DAMN THINE FINE!!!

1) Rockets vs. Warriors - I am probably more hyped for the four regular season games against the boys from the bay more than any other team. Sorry, LeBron. Sorry, NYC, Indy, LA, Other LA, San Antonio or even you, Dallas - the Rockets/Warriors games are the epitome of "Must Watch TV" for the NBA this season. These two teams seem to legitimately hate each other, and the fact that they are on a parallel path of recent success and both went all-in for the top free agent this season just makes it better. I don't want to just beat the Warriors this season - I want to CRUSH them!

Post #2 » by **TMACFORMVP** » Sat Aug 10, 2013 3:28 am

Definitely agree with the Rockets and Warriors. I actually live in the bay area so it's even more personal. I truly regret not going to either of the games this season...especially when we won both of them. I think similar to the Heat and Pacers, the Heat and Bulls with Rose's comeback should also be good.

texasholdem · Post #3 » by **texasholdem** » Sat Aug 10, 2013 4:05 am

Hoping someone throws down a monster poster dunk on Draymond Green.

dunleavyjr · Post #4 » by **dunleavyjr** » Sat Aug 10, 2013 4:50 am

Dwight vs Lakers

kam_soluusar · Post #5 » by **kam_soluusar** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 2:34 am

Houston vs Dallas, and vs Utah. I don't care how crap they are, we must win those games.

gswhoop · Post #6 » by **gswhoop** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:04 pm

GSW/Houston: This is a brewing rivalry between 2 up and coming teams. Houston has a target on their back from every team that was associated with the Dwight saga. The warriors have the upper hand with being the only up and coming team to reach the second round.

inquisitive · Post #7 » by **inquisitive** » Mon Aug 12, 2013 11:54 pm

Howard needs to watch this again...watch it with Olajuwon and McHale and see if he can 'improve' what he did this game.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp432x5xMqQ[/youtube]

texasholdem · Post #8 » by **texasholdem** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 12:05 am

gswhoop wrote:GSW/Houston: This is a brewing rivalry between 2 up and coming teams. Houston has a target on their back from every team that was associated with the Dwight saga. The warriors have the upper hand with being the only up and coming team to reach the second round.

You guys lost 2 important bench players in Landry and Jack.
Gaining Igoudala is a plus but that hinders the growth of Harrison Barnes.

PocketRockets · Post #9 » by **PocketRockets** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 2:39 am

I think jack is more of a loss than they think. He was pretty solid esp with flimsy curry out there. Unfortunately, with his frame, he will probably always be hurt sporadically throughout his career. Shame because he's so good.

texasholdem · Post #10 » by **texasholdem** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 2:00 pm

PocketRockets wrote:I think jack is more of a loss than they think. He was pretty solid esp with flimsy curry out there. Unfortunately, with his frame, he will probably always be hurt sporadically throughout his career. Shame because he's so good.

They got Toney Douglas to be the backup PG now. He hit some amazing shots for us last year but Beverley is better overall.

Surprised no one has picked up Cole Aldrich yet.

gswhoop · Post #11 » by **gswhoop** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 6:44 pm

PocketRockets wrote:I think jack is more of a loss than they think. He was pretty solid esp with flimsy curry out there. Unfortunately, with his frame, he will probably always be hurt sporadically throughout his career. Shame because he's so good.

Yeah I agree that the backup pg is the biggest question mark coming into the season but a different dynamic is that we now a defensive player to guard the opposing teams best player. Last year Klay did a majority of that work but now he will be assigned to guarding the 2nd best offensive guard.

ie the matchup vs rockets would look something like this.

Curry - Lin
Igoudala - Harden
Thompson - Parsons
Lee - ??
Bogut - Howard

Ribalding · Post #12 » by **Ribalding** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:33 pm

Great starting 5 you''ve got there in Oakland.

Gunner
Antique
Gunner
Gunner
Antique

Who, exactly, is going to pass the ball?

gswhoop · Post #13 » by **gswhoop** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 9:22 pm

Ribalding wrote:Great starting 5 you''ve got there in Oakland.

Gunner
Antique
Gunner
Gunner
Antique

Who, exactly, is going to pass the ball?

That's kinda funny you ask because A.I averaged more assist than anyone in Houston last season. Curry also averaged 6.9 assists while logging in 23 points during the regular season and upping those numbers in the playoffs. Also I don't think you can really call a 28 & 29 year old antique.

Post #14 » by **TMACFORMVP** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 10:27 pm

Well to be fair, Iggy didn't average more assists than either Lin or Harden last season. Iggy was at 5.4 assists, while Lin was at 6.1 and Harden was at 5.8. But I agree, Curry is a very good decision maker in terms of passing the ball on the pick and roll. And when you can shoot like that...it'd be a bad decision not to shoot (IMO, Steph was a top 5ish player in the league last season). In fact, there were times I thought Steph shoulda demanded the ball more from Jack.

Iggy defended Harden really well last year..I'm hoping with Howard, there'd be more space, and Harden would have added a bit more diversity to his offensive game this season to combat those elite perimeter defenders.

I think Warriors success (in terms of how far they go in the post-season) will be determined upon Bogut's health (and Curry's ankles too obviously). He's the guy covers for them defensively either if they go small with Barnes at the 4 or going with Lee.

Zubby · Post #15 » by **Zubby** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:13 pm

**** just got real
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukWFmNWeF2s[/youtube]

Sasaki · Post #16 » by **Sasaki** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 5:26 pm

No matter the time.

No matter the place.

No matter the roster.

The enemy is always Utah. Always.

Ribalding · Post #17 » by **Ribalding** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 12:31 am

Sasaki wrote:No matter the time.

No matter the place.

No matter the roster.

The enemy is always Utah. Always.

Thread over.

Nebula1 · Post #18 » by **Nebula1** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 9:34 pm

Rockets/Thunder should continue to grow into something special.

inquisitive · Post #19 » by **inquisitive** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 11:41 pm

real rivalry will be okc....

kinein · Post #20 » by **kinein** » Fri Aug 23, 2013 12:04 am

You said everything I woulda have said E! Nice!