1) Celtics vs. Lakers, 1958-1969
2) Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain, 1959-1969

Applying the term “one-sided” to an NBA rivalry will inevitably always start with Bill Russell. He was such a dominating force during his 13 years in the league that the careers of anybody who played in the ’60s are measured by his yardstick. The two epitomes of that axiom are Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. Baylor came to the NBA in 1958, two years after Russell, and became an instant sensation with the Lakers. He was an 11-time All-Star and easily one of the greatest players in league history but his career is ultimately defined by his team’s inability to defeat Russell’s Celtics in the NBA Finals. It’s stock trivia now, but still worth repeating: Baylor’s Lakers lost to Russell’s Celtics in the Finals seven times: 1959, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1969. The regular season was no picnic either. With only a handful of teams in the league in the late ’50s and early ’60s, the Lakers and Celtics played often in the regular season, and in Baylor’s rookie year, ’58-’59, the Celtics won all nine match-ups (they also swept the Finals that year for an overall 13-0 advantage). The Celtics won 25 of the first 28 regular season match-ups in the Russell vs. Baylor era, and had an overall record of 64-31 over the course of 11 seasons. ’62-’63 and ’68-’69 stand as the only seasons the Lakers won more often in the rivalry (5 to 4 and 4 to 2, respectively). As for Chamberlain, he would have been happy to even reach the NBA Finals because his teams kept bumping up against the Celtics in the Conference Finals. Chamberlain’s Philadelphia Warriors lost to Boston in the 1960 and 1962 Eastern Conference Finals, then switched to the Western Conference and lost to Boston in the 1964 NBA Finals. Back in the East in 1964 after being traded to the 76ers, Chamberlain played against and lost to Russell’s Celtics again in the 1965, 1966, and 1968 Conference Finals. His Philly team did finally break through and triumph over their tormentors in 1967 but overall Chamberlain’s playoff series record against Russell’s teams was 1-7. After joining the Lakers in 1968, Chamberlain teamed up with Baylor in the 1969 Finals to do what they did best, lose to the Celtics and Russell, who retired after that series. With Boston’s star finally out of the way, Chamberlain led the Lakers to the 1972 championship, but Baylor wasn’t there, having retired earlier in that season due to his failing knees.

3) Bulls vs. Cavaliers, 1988-1994
4) Bulls vs. Knicks, 1989-1998

Though not quite to the level of Bill Russell’s Celtics in the ’60s, Michael Jordan’s Bulls certainly dominated the NBA ’90s. His Chicago teams struggled in the playoffs early in Jordan’s career but still got in some devastating postseason victories over the Cavs and Knicks. In ’87-’88 the Bulls broke through for their first 50-win season in the Jordan era and the Cavs, buoyed by coach Lenny Wilkens and star players Mark Price, Brad Daugherty, and Ron Harper were in the playoffs as a six seed. The two met in the first round in a close five-game series, with Jordan scoring 39 points in the clinching win. In 1989 they met again in the first round, this time with the seeds reversed but the series again going the full five, with all games decided by single digits. In game five the final two of Jordan’s 44 points came on “The Shot,” his iconic game-winning basket over Craig Ehlo. Chicago then upset the Knicks in the second round, with Jordan scoring 40 points and hitting the game winning free throws in the game six clincher. The Bulls and Knicks met again in 1991 in the first round but by then Chicago was the cream of the crop of the Eastern Conference and easily swept the Knicks. In 1992 the Bulls took down the Knicks in the second round and the Cavs in the Conference Finals en route to another title. In 1993 the series order reversed, with Chicago taking out the Cavs in the second round and then the Knicks in the Conference Finals, a series that included the game that infamously closed out with Charles Smith getting blocked four consecutive times. Even with Jordan in baseball purgatory in 1994, the Bulls still continued their dominance of Cleveland, sweeping them in the first round in the last series of the Price and Daugherty era. But the Knicks finally got a semblance of revenge on the Bulls that year, defeating them in a second round series en route to an NBA Finals appearance. When Jordan returned it was business as usual in 1996, with the Bulls eliminating the Knicks in the Conference Semifinals.

5) Lakers vs. Kings, 2000-2004

Though they resided in the same state and played in the some division once the Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento, the Lakers and Kings never really saw each other as rivals in the ’80s and ’90s. To be fair, it was more the Lakers paying no mind, like wolves ignoring the opinions of sheep, as the Kings failed to win a single playoff series in their first 14 years in California, a stretch during which the Lakers won three titles (additionally, the Lakers beat the Kings in 32 of their first 34 match-ups as in-state rivals). Unfortunately for the Kings, just as they were ascendent in the early ’00s, building a legit contender around Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, and Chris Webber, the Lakers had a brand new dynasty ready to thwart them. The Kings and Lakers met in a playoff series for the first time as in-state rivals in 2000, when the #8 seed Kings pushed the heavily favored Lakers to the full five games. The 2001 rematch happened in the Conference Semifinals but this time was a sweep for Los Angeles, en route to their second consecutive title. Sacramento had home court advantage in the 2002 Conference Finals and opened up a 2-1 series lead with a game three win in Los Angeles. But things then spiraled out of control, starting with a logic-defying buzzer beater from Robert Horry to steal game four, controversial officiating in game six, and a complete Kings mental breakdown in game seven. After the Lakers won their third straight NBA title that year, the next preseason saw Shaquille O’Neal denigrating their rivals as the “Sacramento Queens” and respective team enforcers Christie and Rick Fox engaging in a fight so intense, it carried over into the tunnel after both players were ejected. The Lakers were finally dethroned as Western Conference champs in 2003 but not by Sacramento, who fell in the second round to Dallas. The teams seemed destined to meet again in the 2004 Conference Finals but the Kings couldn’t get past the Timberwolves in the second round. O’Neal was traded that summer and Sacramento began dismantling their core veteran roster, kicking off a rebuilding project that has yet to resurface a winner.

6) Knicks vs. Heat 1997-2000

For four straight years, starting in 1997, the Knicks and Heat met in a playoff series that went the full distance. But New York was victorious in three of them, easily getting the better of the most heated NBA rivalry of the ’90s. As to why two teams separated by an 18 hour drive on I-95 became so antagonistic to each other, the answer is Pat Riley. The legendary coach took over the Knicks in 1991 and had some success, leading the team to the 1994 NBA Finals. But when the vaunted team wouldn’t grant him more personnel decision power, Riley fled south to Miami, where they essentially handed over the keys to the franchise. That arrangement would eventually pay off, with titles in 2006, 2012, and 2013, but in the late ’90s, Riley and the Heat were regularly stifled by his former team. The Heat were victorious in bout one in the 1997 Conference Semifinals but it came with an asterisk, as the series turned on numerous Knicks receiving undue suspensions for leaving the sidelines during an altercation. New York got their revenge the next three seasons, taking down the Heat in Conference Quarterfinals upsets in 1998 and 1999 (the former featured the memorable image of Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy hanging on to Alonzo Mourning’s leg during an on-court brawl), then in the Conference Semifinals in 2000. The rivalry waned after that as both teams slipped into sustained mediocrity, but the influence reverberated for years as the impetus for the NBA to alter some rules and regulations to discourage the ugly defensive style that defined the these battles.

7) Spurs vs. Suns, 1992-2010

It was a rivalry for two decades in name only and with one constant throughout those years: the Spurs almost always getting the better of the Suns, one way or another. The teams met four times in the playoffs in the ’90s, with the Suns actually winning the first two, though one of them was due in large part to David Robinson being out with an injury. San Antonio’s dominance started in 1996, when Robinson led the way to a first round series win in what turned out to be Charles Barkley’s final games in a Phoenix uniform. They met again in the first round two years later, with Robinson and rookie Tim Duncan proving too much for an undermanned Suns front line. Phoenix got the better of San Antonio one last time in 2000, with Duncan this time missing the series due to an injury, but the Spurs would dominate the rest of the decade.

2003: Phoenix is just starting to put it together with Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and a rookie Amare Stoudemire and reach the playoffs as an eight seed, but they run into a buzzsaw in the first round, with Duncan leading the way in a six game victory en route to their second NBA title.

2005: This time the Suns roll into the Conference Finals as the West’s top seed, but Joe Johnson is forced to miss the series with an eye injury and the Spurs put them away in five games, despite Stoudmire scoring 30+ points in every game. San Antonio goes on to defeat Detroit in the NBA Finals for their third title.

2007: Phoenix is again the higher seed against San Antonio, this time in a second round series and this time fully healthy for game one. Bad luck struck the Suns again though, starting with a Nash nose injury in game one that caused profuse bleeding and forcing him to sit out most of crunch time as the Spurs stole a road win. Then in game four, with the Suns leading late and about to even up the series 2-2, Robert Horry essentially hip-checked Nash into the scorer’s table. Horry, by then just a role player, was suspended two games, but Stoudemire and Boris Diaw were also suspended a game each for leaving the bench after the Horry hit. Short handed, the Suns lost in a valiant effort in game five, and the Spurs then put the series away in six games before winning their fourth NBA championship a couple weeks later.

2008: Struggling to revamp around a renewed interior game built around free agent acquisition Shaquille O’Neal, the Suns slumped to a six seed and had the misfortunate of matching up against the Spurs in the first round. Just as Phoenix looked like it might steal game one in San Antonio, Duncan hit an incredible buzzer beater, his first three-pointer make of the season, to force a second overtime, where Manu Ginobili put the game away. The Spurs went on to win the series in five games.

2010: This time it was San Antonio that struggled during the regular season, slipping all the way down to a seven seed, and Phoenix finally got the better of them in a playoff series, sweeping the Spurs in the second round before losing to the Lakers in the Conference Finals. Overall, the playoff series record in this rivalry is 6-4 Spurs, but the NBA titles won is 5-0 and that makes all the difference.

“Though the arena was ostensibly built for the teams to share, there was no doubt who was the true “home” team, as the Lakers got the bigger locker room, all the banners in the rafters (the Clippers had never even won a division title at that point), and the color scheme of purple seats in the stands.”

8) Cavaliers vs. Wizards, 2006-2008

Whereas most rivalries grow from proximity breeding contempt, or frequent intense playoff match-ups, here’s one that incubated out of good old fashioned organic hatred. The Cavs and Wizards both ended long playoff droughts in the mid ’00s, with Washington rebuilding around the Gilbert Arenas/Antawn Jamison/Caron Butler triumvirate, and Cleveland riding the wave of their basketball messiah, LeBron James. They met in the first round of the 2006 playoffs in the first playoff series of James’ career. It was an epic affair, with four of the six games decided in the final minute, three of them by just one point. James tallied a triple-double in his playoff debut with 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, and hit the winning shots in games three and five. Arenas was similarly incredible during the series, averaging 34 points per game, and hitting a clutch three-pointer that sent game six to overtime. But Damon Jones ended up being the unsung hero that night, clinching the series for Cleveland with an overtime game winning jumper. Animosity between the teams only grew into the next spring, but by then the Cavs had emerged as the clearly better team. In a first round rematch, Cleveland won this time in a sweep, despite Jamison leading all scorers with 32 points per game. They met one more time in the first round in 2008, this time with the storyline revolving around DeShawn Stevenson, who had called James “overrated” after a regular season matchup. In a series of events that somehow involved rapper Soulja Boy as an unofficial Wizards mascot and Jay-Z recording a Stevenson diss track, Cleveland and Washington played another tight series, with the Cavs once again prevailing in six games. After Arenas suffered various injuries and then was suspended indefinitely for storing firearms in his locker, the Wizards fell apart for several seasons before rebuilding around John Wall. But no matter how much the team was struggling, fans would get amped for every opportunity to boo LeBron when he came to town, be it with the Cavs or Heat.

9) Rockets vs. Spurs, 1976-1995

Sometimes referenced as the I-10 Rivalry, due to the respective cities’ transportability along Interstate 10, it all started when the Spurs merged from the ABA in 1976. At the time the Rockets were the only NBA team in Texas, a distinction they had held since moving from San Diego four years earlier. With both teams strangely placed in the Eastern Conference in the same division, the rivalry became natural and they split the next three Central Division titles. They met in the first round of the 1980 playoffs, with the Rockets winning the series in a three-game sweep, taking advantage of San Antonio’s porous defense to accumulate 141 points in the closing game. The teams shifted to the Western Conference in ’80-’81, when George Gervin and James Silas led the Spurs to the two seed. But the Rockets got the upper hand in their second round matchup, upsetting their rivals in seven games and eventually reaching the NBA Finals. The rivalry remained heated throughout the decade, but the stakes waned heavily as the Spurs struggled after trading Gervin, and didn’t become a contender again until David Robinson joined the squad in 1992. Instantly one of the league’s best centers, Robinson reignited the feud as he challenged the supremacy of Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon. After taking home MVP and Finals MVP trophies in 1994 while leading the Rockets to their first ever title, Olajuwon felt slighted when San Antonio outpaced them in the standings in ’94-’95 and the MVP award was given to Robinson. Heading into the Conference Finals as a six seed, Olajuwon carried the Rockets to an upset of the top-seeded Spurs, completely dressing down Robinson and almost toying with him like a predator with their prey. Though both teams remained solid, the rivalry sort of fizzled from there, as the Rockets fell out of title contention for two decades and the Spurs cultivated rivalries with the Lakers, Suns, and Mavericks. Things renewed ever so briefly in 2017, when the teams faced off in the postseason for the first time since 1995, with Kawhi Leonard leading the Spurs to a six game victory over James Harden’s Rockets.

10) Celtics vs. Hawks, 1983-1988

The Dominique Wilkins era Hawks may have been the best team in league history to never even reach a Conference Finals, let alone an NBA Finals, and the major reason why was Larry Bird and the Celtics. The rivalry essentially peaked and ended in the 1988 playoffs, with the legendary Wilkins vs, Bird game seven duel, which marked the best and last chance for Atlanta to reach as far as the Conference Finals. The seeds of the rivalry were actually sewn back in the early years of the league, when Red Auerbach was originally hired to coach the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (who soon moved to Milwaukee, then St. Louis, then Atlanta) but quit after one year due to disagreements with the owner and signed on with the Celtics. He went on to win 16 titles in Boston as coach, general manager and president, three of which came at the expense of the then St. Louis Hawks in 1958, 1960, and 1961. Already a postseason regular when they traded for Wilkins in 1982, Atlanta became a serious threat at that point, just as the Celtics were starting to overtake Philadelphia as the East’s best team. In Wilkins’ rookie year, the Hawks gave Boston all they could handle in a first round series, losing the game three rubber match (it was the last year that the NBA staged three-game playoff series) in a contest that featured Tree Rollins biting Danny Ainge during a melee. By 1986 the Hawks had a built a solid team, adding Doc Rivers, Spud Webb, and Kevin Willis around Wilkins, but after winning the first playoff series of Wilkins’ career, they ran into the ’85-’86 Celtics juggernaut in round two and dropped the series in five games. Atlanta lost to Boston again in the second round in 1987, but the 1988 playoffs looked like a legitimate chance for them to finally upend their tormentors. Boston was seemingly aging in dog years by then, and the Hawks stole game five in Boston Garden to take a 3-2 series lead. After the Celtics came back to Atlanta and won game six, the stage was set for Bird and Wilkins in game seven. Though Wilkins was awe-inspiring, finishing with 47 points on 19-of-33 shooting, Bird responded with 20 points in the fourth quarter, willing his team to a 118-116 win. Though both teams would find varying levels of success in the ’90s, they wouldn’t meet in the playoffs again until 2008, when the Celtics appropriately won again in seven games.

11) 76ers vs. Bucks, 1981-1991

When Don Nelson took over as coach of Milwaukee in 1978 they were still reeling from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s departure three years prior. He immediately turned the team around and the Bucks reached the playoffs 11 straight seasons between 1981 and 1992. They faced Philadelphia at some point in seven of those playoff trips and lost in five of them. The Sixers were nearly unbeatable at the Spectrum in the early ’80s and Milwaukee found out the hard way in a 1981 series when Julius Erving and Philadelphia won all four games against the Bucks at home including a one-point victory in game seven. Milwaukee managed to steal a game in Philly in a rematch in the second round in 1982, but lost two of out three at the Mecca and the Sixers advanced in six games. After the Bucks upset the Celtics in the second round in 1983, they got another shot at Philadelphia in the Conference Finals. But this Sixers team had added Moses Malone and was seemingly unstoppable. They defeated Milwaukee in five games, and that one Bucks win was the only loss Philly suffered during those playoffs en route to winning the championship. An aging Sixers team got the better of Milwaukee again in 1985, this time in a second round sweep, but Milwaukee finally got a measure of revenge in 1986. Featuring a well-balanced lineup highlighted by Sidney Moncrief, Terry Cummings, and Ricky Pierce, the Bucks finally had home court advantage over Philadelphia that year and made it count, winning in seven games. But even when the Bucks had the upper hand in this rivalry, it was eked out, as the overmatched 76ers (Moses Malone was sidelined with an injury) still pushed the series to the bitter end, with a Julius Erving buzzer beater miss in game seven being the difference maker. Milwaukee got the better of Philadelphia one more time in a first round series in 1987 but the Sixers got the final word in this rivalry with a 1991 first round sweep.

12) Knicks vs. Nets, 1976-Current
13) Lakers vs. Clippers, 1984-2013, 2018-?

Adjacency is almost always the foremost impetus in great sports rivalries, from Duke vs. North Carolina to Bears vs. Packers to Giants vs. Dodgers to Ohio State vs. Michigan. The two factions in each of these NBA rivalries have been sharing a TV market for over four decades, and in the case of Lakers-Clippers, the same arena since 1999. But these are situations where a big brother-little brother dynamic has dominated the framework. Though they started playing home games in Teaneck, New Jersey, the Nets moved to Long Island in 1968 as the ABA looked to expand into the country’s biggest potential fanbase. They entered the NBA via merger in 1976 having won two of the final three ABA titles, and sporting star players Julius Erving and Tiny Archibald. But ownership was caught off-guard when they were forced to pay an exorbitant “invasion” fee to the Knicks, leading to Erving’s departure after the team was too cash-strapped to properly extend his contract (the Nets actually offered Erving’s contract to the Knicks as payment for their “invasion” fee, but the Knicks turned it down). After struggling to make ends meet in their first season, owner Ray Boe decided to move back to Jersey, and in a final insult added to injury, was forced to pay the Knicks another four million dollar fee for the rights to move. In their inaugural NBA season, the Nets finished 22-60 overall, but won a moral victory by splitting their four games with the Knicks. In fact, on paper this rivalry looks pretty even over the last 40 years. The Knicks hold only a slight advantage over the Nets in regular season head-to-head matchups, a two-to-one edge in playoff series face-offs (each in the first round), and each team has the same amount of post-merger Finals appearances (two) and titles (zero). But even with both teams slumping in the standings and the Nets’ recent relocation to Brooklyn, there’s no doubt the Knicks have always been the kings of the New York area, playing in the temple of Madison Square Garden. They still have all the celebrity fans, all the biggest free agent and trade rumors, and remain shorthand for basketball in New York.

As for the Lakers and Clippers, this was a dominant sibling rivalry on a large scale until only recently. When Donald Sterling bought the Clippers in 1981, his first order of business was moving the team from San Diego to his native Los Angeles, and within three years the team was playing their home games at the L.A. Memorial Sports Arena, sharing real estate with USC. That venue had been a previous home of the Lakers until they moved ten miles away to the Forum in 1967, so the rivalry began with both teams playing at different home arenas. Though the Clippers had some decent players around the time of their move, including former Lakers star Norm Nixon, they mostly languished in the standings, far behind the Showtime Lakers that were winning championships with Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It took the Clippers 10 tries to finally win a game against their new cross-town rivals, and six full seasons before they finally emerged victorious from the Forum, in a 1991 overtime thriller played just a few weeks after Johnson had announced his retirement due to contracting HIV. Disappointed by the decrepit Sports Arena location and frustrated by several aborted attempts to build a replacement, Sterling started threatening to move the Clippers to Anaheim in the mid ’90s, but was coaxed to stay by an agreement where his team would share space with the Lakers at the new Staples Center. Though the arena was ostensibly built for the teams to share, there was no doubt who was the true “home” team, as the Lakers got the bigger locker room, all the banners in the rafters (the Clippers had never even won a division title at that point), and the color scheme of purple seats in the stands. Though the Clippers have overtaken the Lakers as the better team in Los Angeles in the last few years, they still lack any accomplishments of note, having never advanced past the second round of the playoffs. And this brief upper hand from the Clippers has likely come to an end with LeBron James now donning purple and gold for the foreseeable future.