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Rivals Week tripleheader on ABC features Heat-Knicks, 76ers-Nuggets & Lakers-Warriors

Playoff rematches and a clash of Kia MVP candidates highlight Saturday's NBA Rivals Week finale.

Jalen Brunson & Bam Adebayo tip off Saturday’s tripleheader on ABC as the Knicks host the Heat at Madison Square Garden.

NBA Rivals Week concludes with a pair of playoff rematches from the 2023 Conference Finals – Heat at Knicks (3 ET, ABC) and Lakers at Warriors (8:30 ET, ABC) – as well as a clash of the last two Kia MVPs with Sixers at Nuggets (5:30 ET, ABC).

Take a closer look at the history of these rivalries and what to expect on Saturday.


Heat vs. Knicks 

The Heat-Knicks rivalry origin story begins with Pat Riley’s departure from New York to Miami in 1995 followed by four consecutive playoff matchups from 1997-2000 that not only went the maximum number of games, but were known for an intense, physical style of play.

Last year’s playoff matchup was just the second in the past 23 postseasons for the longtime rivals, but once again the intensity of a Heat-Knicks series was evident. Miami won in six games to advance to the East Finals and eventually the NBA Finals.

Both teams are in the playoff picture again this year, but enter this Rivals Week matchup headed in opposite directions – New York has won five straight and is an NBA-best 11-2 in January, while Miami has dropped five straight.

If there is any lesson to know from this rivalry’s history, the records don’t matter when these teams take the court against one another.


Sixers vs. Nuggets

Top Kia MVP candidates Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid face off tonight when the Nuggets host the 76ers at 5:30 p.m. ET.

NBA legends Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain once discussed what the other meant to them throughout their rivalry.

  • Chamberlain: “You always need the best to bring the best out in you. So I was always fortunate to have to know that I was gonna play against the Celtics and William Felton Russell. If we wanted to win and be winners, we had to go into the Boston Garden and come out, some kind of way, winning. And so you got inspired, and you always got up to do that.”
  • Russell: “We would’ve still won about 11 or 12 championships, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. Because winning is only important — at least it was to me — if you beat the best. If you go out and beat guys that aren’t any good, that’s no big deal. But my friend Wilt Norman Chamberlain was far and away the best player I’ve ever played against.”

That idea of iron sharpening iron has played out throughout NBA history. The NBA MVP has been awarded 68 times since 1955-56. Big men have finished 1-2 in the voting 22 times, but only five duos have done so more than once.

Russell and Chamberlain

  • 1959-60: Chamberlain 1st / Russell 2nd
  • 1961-62: Russell/Chamberlain

Russell and Bob Pettit

  • 1958-59: Pettit/Russell
  • 1960-61: Russell/Pettit

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bob McAdoo

  • 1973-74: Kareem/McAdoo
  • 1975-76: Kareem/McAdoo

Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett

  • 2002-03: Duncan/Garnett
  • 2003-04: Garnett/Duncan

Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid

  • 2020-21: Jokic/Embiid
  • 2021-22: Jokic/Embiid
  • 2022-23: Embiid/Jokic

Jokic and Embiid are the first bigs to finish atop the MVP voting for three consecutive seasons. And a fourth could be on the way as they sit No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in Michael C. Wright’s latest Kia MVP Ladder.

Many more chapters will need to be written for the Embiid/Jokic rivalry to reach the legendary status of Russell/Chamberlain. The next one will be written today in their final regular-season meeting of the season.

Below is a look at how Embiid and Jokic have performed not just when their teams play against one another, but when they are matched up with each other on offense and defense.

Embiid’s Sixers hold a 6-2 edge over Jokic’s Nuggets in head-to-head matchups, including their most recent game on Jan. 16.


Lakers vs. Warriors

Saturday marks the 50th time LeBron James and Stephen Curry will meet between the regular season and playoffs.

The Lakers-Warriors matchup does not share the history of Knicks-Heat, but rather mirrors the player vs. player rivalry of Sixers-Nuggets. You can’t tell the story of LeBron James without Steph Curry and vice versa. Their stories will always be intertwined – like Wilt and Russell or Magic and Bird.

Saturday marks the 50th time the two superstars will meet between the regular season and postseason (Playoffs and Play-In Tournament). Last year’s matchup in the West semifinals was their fifth playoff series against one another, but the only one that didn’t come in the NBA Finals, where the superstars met four straight years from 2015-2018.

We take a closer look at the first 49 head-to-head matchups between the two stars below before the next chapter is written this evening.

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