RealGM

We're having a discussion right meow on the Blazer's board (http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=829500) about who our biggest rival is (I personally picked the Lakers), and it got me wondering, where would you guys rank the rivalry we have between our two teams amongst the other rivalries you guys have?

Thanx guys

P.S. I still hate you guys and your team

Seems like lakers are rivals with everyone... our only buddy might be memphis because of jerry west.

I'd list you guys as #2 rival of the future.

You are young talented and overachieving will soon turn to expected production. Memories of Sheed, Pip, and the miracle comeback are bound to well back up. You have a legit center, as well.

Boston is always gonna be #1 as long as they are competitive.
Suns were probably #1 as were the Heat during a stretch, but thanks to Shaq neither is on our radar anymore.

Spurs are such good sports it's hard to hate them, though playoff wise they have been every bit our rival for a decade.

Celtics will always be #1 for us (happens when they beat you like 8 times in the finals)

then, in some order, probably the
Blazers
Suns
Kings


It seems like the Spurs should be there somewhere but I've never really thought of having any discontent toward their franchise... Even though we have met so many times in the playoffs since 99 it has always seemed like Spurs and Lakers have always had respect for each others' franchise

Corvus Crow wrote:

haha pretty much my exact same line of thought

Well untill you win something more than the lottery, it is hard to say you are a rival. You are making a good young team up in Portland, but we have seen the LA Clippers draft high year after year and they are back in the lottery, loosing players that are around till there contracts are due to be max or pretty high. So you will beat a lot of team if healthy, but rival of the Lakers, not the most importannt thing to talk about in the summer when there is no games to be played and teams are still changing. Who would have thought the Celtics go from last to first and win it all with one or two trades, they did and they beat the Lakers. So who is the lakers main rival. Who really knows. Dallas, Utah, Spurs???

correcting Corvus Crow:
you MIGHT have a legit center

we should know about Thanksgiving.

Lakers only rival is boston. The rest of the teams aren't on our level to think much of them

Boston still is #1, lot of history. Although the pistons arent really a continuing rival at this point, they are still someone that we might face just as long as Joe Dumars is running the show. (In the finals i could easily see either Det or Bos. I would rank Blazers as an up and coming #3. We have history and we will have more to come. I think the Blazers have soo much potential in the deep west. Blazers are packed with young talent and can only get better if they stick together.

My top 3 western conference foes in no particular order....

POR
SAC
PHX

That Nicka wrote:Celtics will always be #1 for us (happens when they beat you like 8 times in the finals)

then, in some order, probably the
Blazers
Suns
Kings


It seems like the Spurs should be there somewhere but I've never really thought of having any discontent toward their franchise... Even though we have met so many times in the playoffs since 99 it has always seemed like Spurs and Lakers have always had respect for each others' franchise

Yup, that looks about right.

Hmmm,

1) Da Celts
2) Da new Rockets!
3) Da Blazer's/Da Hornets
4) Da Jazz

in order of our biggest competition

Waiting to build a legit Rivalry with Da new Clips!!!!!!

We've played the Spurs, what, six times in the past decade in the playoffs? That's gotta put them above any of those three teams.

The Kings were crap forever, then we tussled for a few years, and are crap again. They never beat us, so that ain't a rivalry. I suppose the Suns are there, but again -- I wouldn't call getting knocked out in the first round two years in a row much of a rivalry, at least not on our end. We've locked horns with two great Blazers teams in the WCF since 91, so I'd put them above either of those two, easily.

To me, though, the Spurs are the clear-cut choice beyond the Celtics. (And even then, the only reason Boston is No. 1 is history. Before this year the rivalry was dead for nearly 20 years). They closed down the Forum in 99 with a sweep and ended our championship run in 03. We returned the favor by closing the Alamodome (pay back, bitches), 0.4 to spoil their title defense and the crushing sweep in 01.

Plus, I live in San Antonio, so that's a no-brainer for me. I hate the Spurs with an absolute passion.

I really hope the Blazers become good, because the Oden/Bynum would-be rivalry is soo epic....hopefully with the latter coming out as the winner

Sedale Threatt wrote:We've played the Spurs, what, six times in the past decade in the playoffs? That's gotta put them above any of those three teams.

The Kings were crap forever, then we tussled for a few years, and are crap again. They never beat us, so that ain't a rivalry. I suppose the Suns are there, but again -- I wouldn't call getting knocked out in the first round two years in a row much of a rivalry, at least not on our end. We've locked horns with two great Blazers teams in the WCF since 91, so I'd put them above either of those two, easily.

To me, though, the Spurs are the clear-cut choice beyond the Celtics. (And even then, the only reason Boston is No. 1 is history. Before this year the rivalry was dead for nearly 20 years). They closed down the Forum in 99 with a sweep and ended our championship run in 03. We returned the favor by closing the Alamodome (pay back, bitches), 0.4 to spoil their title defense and the crushing sweep in 01.

Plus, I live in San Antonio, so that's a no-brainer for me. I hate the Spurs with an absolute passion.

If you are referencing my list then...no, it is not rivalry based. Its personal. Yes, SAS would be #4

I don't care how good or bad the Blazers are rilvary or no rilvary I will always hate their announcers.they demean basketball in general reguardless of how funny the Blazer fans think they are.

ditto for Bawston.

1. Boston
2. Portland
3. Phoenix

Blazers? I don't think I've even thought about them since the 4th quarter collapse in the playoffs. They were a major rival back then, it was fun.

Sabonis' wiles against Shaq, Rasheed murdering us on the baseline, Kobe and Pippen going at it, throw in steve smith, damon stoudamire dropping daggers...it was great stuff.

They don't have any of those players anymore. Just a nice group of talented young players who haven't even made the playoffs. Not to demean them, but how can you have a rivalry against that? Just not enough history.

1. I would agree with Sedale, San Antonio is our greatest rival. They threaten the Lakers' legacy as the best team in the last decade - or we threaten them. No hard feelings, just a battle of two great franchises trying to cement their status for posterity.

2. Boston takes second place because they're our biggest competitors right now. It didn't help that some of their players said some pretty classless stuff. The terrible announcers, Pierce's antics, KG's screaming and pounding his chest, Ray Allen's past comments, all those things add to it, but Boston is mostly just a current top basketball rival.

3. Sentimental rivalry, definitely Sacramento. Something about those series, Vlade flopping, Webber looking like he's going to cry, Christie's wife swinging a purse, cowbells, they take a special place in my heart, even though the Kings don't evoke the same feelings anymore. But they were our most hated rivals in recent memory. Good times.

4. Jazz. There's a lot of history between the Jazz and the Lakers in the playoffs. They eliminated us, we eliminated them, their fans are incredibly noisy and sometimes downright awful. Making fun of Tatum Fisher, booing him, I don't know, you can't generalize an entire crowd, but that just re-introduces forgotten bile in this rivalry.

5. Suns, because they eliminated us twice in a row, and they have Shaq. So there's going to be a rivalry whenever we see them.

Well being a 30 year vet of watching the Lakers and pro ball I'd say Boston is our main rival. While we do have playoff history with the Blazers we've gotten the best of them for the most part. But Blazer fan your team has to show it can consistently win first before your on par with us.

As far as playoff rivals go in the West it's most definitely the Spurs, only because when they've beaten us they've won the championship afterwards. And we've beaten them when it counts too.

snaquille oatmeal wrote:I don't care how good or bad the Blazers are rilvary or no rilvary I will always hate their announcers.they demean basketball in general reguardless of how funny the Blazer fans think they are.

ditto for Bawston.

Yeah, I won't lie, all of us Blazer fans can't stand them either; especially Mike Rice. It's just that, since we're stuck with them, we try to make the best of it by laughing at them.

milesfides wrote:Blazers? I don't think I've even thought about them since the 4th quarter collapse in the playoffs. They were a major rival back then, it was fun.

Sabonis' wiles against Shaq, Rasheed murdering us on the baseline, Kobe and Pippen going at it, throw in steve smith, damon stoudamire dropping daggers...it was great stuff.

They don't have any of those players anymore. Just a nice group of talented young players who haven't even made the playoffs. Not to demean them, but how can you have a rivalry against that? Just not enough history.

Outside of the Celtics, who has had a richer history with the Lakers besides the Blazers? I mean, between 1970 and 2002 our teams met eachother in the playoffs 17 times, and over the last few decades we've had some pretty epic battles (i.e. the '91 WCF when the Lakers beat the Blazers in 6 games even though we had the best record in the NBA, obviously the 4th quarter collapse of the Blazers in game 7 of the WCF in 2000, but even regular season games have been heated like all of our double overtime games over the last few years, and the fact that, even though the Blazers have sucked since '02, we've still given you guys trouble since then (especially at the Rose Garden).)

Our current teams should match up nicely as well:
Roy vs. Kobe
Aldridge/Outlaw vs. Gasol/Odom
Oden vs. Bynum