Celtics Wizards Rivalry Needs to Save the East

The Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards may be the only hope for a dying Eastern Conference

The NBA offseason that keeps on giving may have just unleashed the most unexpected turn. The turmoil with the Cleveland Cavaliers has been discussed endlessly, but now that it has been revealed that Kyrie Irving asked for a trade, it is a brutal reality for fans that will never forget the last time their team fell apart.

With the surge of superstars going West, the East was already going to be a shell of a conference this year. Rebuilding young teams are expected to make the playoffs and, other than the Boston Celtics, nobody added a top player to make them significantly better.

The Tortonto Raptors will try to go on another run, but they lost too much depth to be better than last year. The Milwaukee Bucks are young and ready to get into the playoffs, but they have a ways to go before they can be contenders to make the finals.

It is becoming more and more difficult to find any intrigue in the East, making this one of the least anticipated regular seasons in a while. There is, however, one saving grace. There is one thing left in the East that will bring the casual fans in, and in a way that maybe not even the West can do.

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It has been quite some time since there has been a real rivalry in the East, but after last season the Celtics and the Washington Wizards may be ready to become the rivalry that will make the East interesting again.

It is not just that these appear to be the only two well functioning teams in the East. It is not just that they are fresh off the only interesting seven game series in the playoffs last year. What makes this rivalry real is that these players and organizations have made it clear that they don’t like each other, and when they face off its about a little bit more than adding one onto the win column.

There was the funeral game saga, there was the multiple near fights and there was all the talk about dirty players and intentional injuries. Too much has been said between these teams and too much has happened to just forget.

More needs to happen for this to escalate to a real rivalry, but all the pieces are there. All that matters now is these two teams need to be good enough to make the other nervous, and they both need to feel as though the other is going to be their biggest obstacle in the East.

The players embraced the bad blood last year, and the media took it to another level. You cannot count how many times it was said that the Wizards had the better starting five last season. But, of course, that would not bother the better team, even if it were true.

The worry is that the Celtics made a big addition in Hayward, while all the Wizards did was stay in tact. That being said, if you believe the Washington media and players, that should not matter.

If all the Wizards needed was depth, there is no reason for them to not have improved that. And, if their starting unit was that much better, then Hayward should not be the difference… right?

These two teams will have the most interesting games in the regular season, they should be battling for the top seed in the Conference, but meeting again in the playoffs is the key to saving the East this year.

With how bad it is, all that can be asked for is one great series, and a Celtics Wizards series can be great for more reasons than just the quality of play on the court.

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The East could be the most unpredictable it has been in years, and there is still plenty of time for this crazy offseason to get even crazier. That being said, I welcome every bit of hate and trash from Washington because this is the rivalry the East deserves and the bad blood built up between the two of them could lead to a phenomenal culmination in the playoffs.

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