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Celtics Players Are Embracing the Cavaliers Rivalry

By Joshua Bateman

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The Boston Celtics are currently enduring a relevance drought but a playoff appearance a season ago is a great sign. Unforunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers took care of the Celtics in just four games but that did not stop them from rekindling what once was a great rivalry during the Paul Pierce days.

Before LeBron James took his talents to south beach and secured his first NBA title it was thanks to the Celtics that he had to deal with fans and media questioning whether he could win a championship. Paul Pierce against LeBron James is one of the best recent rivalries in basketball and it lead to some unforgettable moments.

Paul Pierce has had many phenomenal performances and this game 7 would be on a very short list of the greatest.

There was once a time when the Cavaliers needed to get revenge on the Celtics but now the tides have changed and it is the Celtics looking for revenge. Only this time, it is a completely new roster targeting LeBron James.

Jonas Jerebko has spoken about the confidence he has with the team and he only mentioned one other team directly: “We want to get back in the playoffs. We want to play Cleveland again”.

The animosity between the Celtics and the Cavaliers is not just about winning and losing. The Celtics were given next to no chance against the Cavaliers a season ago but they still played in some of the most heated games of the post season.

Nobody will forget the blows dealt by both J.R Smith and Kelly Olynyk.

And of course ex Celtics enforcer, Kendrick Perkins, also got involved.

It was a short series but there may not have been two teams that had as much tension between them as the Celtics and the Cavaliers in last season’s playoffs.

Even Terry Rozier, who has yet to suit up for a regular season game, has his sights set on James. Rozier was interviewed and after they asked who he wanted to dunk on this season, he responded with “LeBron”. There is two sides to this as Rozier may have said James simply because he is the best player in the world but it can only add more fuel to what may become the best rivalry in the East.

The Celtics will need time to catch up to the Cavaliers but they are well on their way and with Brad Stevens at the helm they can certainly be more competitive. Despite losing four straight games the Celtics fought hard in each game against the Cavaliers. Of their four loses only one of them was decided by more than 10 points.

The Celtics have made enough additions this season that they may be able to turn a couple of those close games into wins and you can bet that those games will be some of the roughest and even dirtiest of the season as both team are heading into it looking for vengeance.

The Cavaliers were tremendously successful last year but they were without one of their three best players in Kevin Love. Even if Love has publicly talked about being over the incident there is no doubting that Celtics series left the Cavaliers wondering what could have been if he was healthy for the finals.

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