Ranking NBA's Most Heated Rivalries Entering 2013 Playoffs

Whoever thinks rivalries are dead in today's NBA hasn't been paying close enough attention.

Just because NBA players in 2013 tend to be cordial with each other off the court doesn't mean that sparks won't fly when they clash in the playoffs. Skip Bayless may believe that Kevin Durant's friendship with LeBron James cost the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals, but anyone with half a brain can see an on-court rivalry budding between K.D. and King James.

The league may lack the pure hatred between players that flowed back in the 1980s and 1990s, but there's no shortage of potential juicy confrontations heading into the 2013 NBA playoffs.

In the Western Conference, we've got the tantalizing prospect of a first-round clash between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder (hereby dubbed the James Harden Bowl). In the East, there's the slight possibility that Ray Allen could come back to haunt his former Boston Celtics teammates.

There's plenty of team-on-team hatred that's likely to flow in the 2013 playoffs, too. There's bad blood between intracity rivals such as the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers or the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks, and just about every team in the Eastern Conference has some reason to hate the Miami Heat.

Here, I've highlighted 10 of the most heated rivalries heading into the 2013 postseason based on two major factors: previous confrontations (both before and during the 2012-13 season) and potential historical importance.

Note: Statistics, records and current playoff projections are current through games played on April 13.  

10. Carmelo Anthony vs. Kevin Durant

The rivalry between Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony only started heating up in the final few weeks of the 2012-13 season, and both players are still loathe to admit it.

Durant held the league lead in points per game for a grand majority of the season, threatening to become the first scoring leader in NBA history to finish shooting at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line.

Anthony snuck in and grabbed the lead back from Durant when the New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder faced off on April 7, right in the midst of Anthony's record-setting six-game scoring explosion. He finished with 36 points and 12 rebounds against the Thunder en route to becoming the first player in Knicks history to score at least 35 points in six straight games.

To Durant's credit, he's playing it cool, saying that Anthony can have the scoring title all to himself, according to Jeff Caplan of NBA.com. Having won each of the past three scoring titles, Durant has his eyes focused on a larger prize: the NBA championship.

"Don't get me wrong, I never want to take stuff like [the scoring title] for granted, but if it happens, it happens," Durant said back on April 4, according to NBA.com. "I'm just going to play my game. I'm not going to force it too much and think about it too much and try to get it. But if it’s meant to be then it will happen."

Even if he's more focused on winning his first championship, K.D. still can't be thrilled that Anthony's about to prevent him from making NBA history. As the two continue their battle for the claim of being the purest scoring forward in the league, this season could just be the beginning of their rivalry.

9. Brooklyn Nets vs. New York Knicks

Once the Brooklyn Nets moved into New York City this season, the rivalry with the New York Knicks was officially born.

After the Knicks' 100-97 win over the Nets on Dec. 11, Carmelo Anthony admitted as much.

"

It is (a rivalry). I mean, after that first game, we might as well accept that. It is what it is. They're on our division, we see them four times a year. It is a rivalry. It's great for New York to have that in Brooklyn and in Manhattan. When we come here it's a battle. When they come there, it's going to be a battle. We expect that.

"

It's only natural for two strong teams in the same city to want to top one another. It's a race to the front page of the sports section in the New York Times, and who wouldn't want to land front-page NYT coverage? (Well, besides Mike Rice.)

The Knicks have the second seed in the Eastern Conference all but knotted up, while Brooklyn looks pretty locked into the fourth seed. That means the only chance these two teams have of clashing in the 2013 playoffs would be in the conference finals, assuming the Nets somehow upset the Miami Heat.

Whichever team advances deeper into the playoffs gets the ultimate bragging rights in the first year of this new intracity rivalry. Assuming that neither team is going to win the NBA championship this season, that's at least a half-decent consolation prize.

8. Los Angeles Clippers vs. Los Angeles Lakers

The scales finally began tipping the other way in the intracity rivalry between the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers during the 2012-13 season.

The Clippers posted their first 50-win season in franchise history and took home the Pacific Division championship for the first time ever, while the Lakers still find themselves fighting for their playoff lives in mid-April.

With Kobe Bryant tearing his Achilles' tendon in the 80th game of the season, the Lakers' chances of making it past the first round of the playoffs just plummeted from slim to none. If the Lakers stave off the Utah Jazz for the eighth seed in the Western Conference, it means a first-round knockout by either the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder.

Clippers fans won't be shedding too many tears for Lakers diehards, who hardly know what it feels like to miss the playoffs in the past two decades. After a berth in the Western Conference semifinals last season, Chris Paul and his Clippers teammates likely have their sights set on going even farther this year.

Lakers fans likely won't be too preoccupied with the Clippers' postseason fortunes, as they've now got Bryant's Achilles' tendon to worry about alongside Dwight Howard's impending free agency. The Clippers have their own offseason concerns until Chris Paul signs his name on a new long-term contract, too.

Still, seeing the Clippers advancing deeper in the 2013 playoffs than the Lakers won't be an easy pill to swallow for fans of the more celebrated franchise.

7. Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat

The rivalry between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat dates back further than just the 2012-13 season.

The Bulls and the Heat clashed in the 2011 Eastern Conference finals, the first year of Miami's Big Three and the year that Derrick Rose won the regular season MVP award over LeBron James.

Chicago, the No.1 seed in the East that year, blew the Heat out in the first game of the conference finals but lost the next four straight. James, in particular, smothered Rose defensively during a number of critical possessions in that series.

The much-awaited Bulls-Heat rematch never unfolded in 2011-12 after Derrick Rose tore his ACL in the first game of the playoffs. Instead, the Heat went through yet another war with the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals before winning the championship over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Rose still hasn't returned from that torn ACL, which effectively ends all chances of a Bulls-over-Heat upset in the 2013 playoffs if the two teams end up meeting.

If Rose defies the odds and does return at some point in the playoffs, he'd have the potential to be one of the biggest postseason game-changers in recent memory. The Heat could still prevail, but their presumed cakewalk to the NBA Finals suddenly wouldn't look so easy.

6. James Harden vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

If there's one thing that's true about most professional athletes, it's that they love proving all doubters wrong.

If the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder face off in the first round of the 2013 playoffs, James Harden will be intent on making his former employers look like buffoons.

The Thunder and Harden couldn't come to terms on a contract before the start of the season, which sent OKC into panic mode. They traded Harden to the Rockets in exchange for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and what's shaping up to be a top-10 pick in 2013, seemingly a great deal for both sides.

Harden likely doesn't harbor the resentment toward his former Thunder teammates as some of the other rivalries on this list, but there's little doubt that he'd like to string together enough 30-plus-point performances in the playoffs to send his old team home early.

The Beard has clearly proven in 2012-13 that he was worth every penny of the five-year, $80 million contract he signed with the Rockets before the start of the season. He's only one of three players averaging at least 25 points, five assists and four rebounds per game this season, according to Basketball Reference, along with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

The Thunder should be able to keep up with the fast-paced Rockets enough to still be favored in a series between the two, but Harden does possess the superstar scoring ability to put a scare into his former teammates.

5. Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers

The Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers have more of a one-sided feud, in the words of Bill Simmons, than a true rivalry heading into the 2013 playoffs.

It wasn't all that long ago, however, that the Pacers feel as though they had the Heat on the ropes.

In the 2012 Eastern Conference semifinals, the Pacers took a 2-1 lead over Miami after stealing home-court advantage in Game 3, a game which featured a sideline meltdown by Dwyane Wade.

Whispers began swirling about the Heat disappointing yet again in the postseason, but Miami instead won the next three games over Indiana and went onto win the NBA championship. The Pacers don't sound any less bitter about it nearly a year later.

"They are the best team," said Pacers center Roy Hibbert to ESPN's Marc Stein this spring. "They're the king of the hill right now. They are the best team and went on an incredible streak. But there are other teams out there that are hungry to go out there and compete with them."

The Pacers truly believe that if they collide with the Heat in the conference finals, they've got as good of a shot as any team to upset the defending champions. The further the Heat get in the playoffs and the closer they get to defending their title, though, the tougher they'll be to take down.

4. New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat

The New York Knicks' rivalry with the Miami Heat could heat up significantly in the 2013 playoffs.

The Knicks blew out the Heat in their first two matchups of the season before losing a close battle in their third encounter. For their fourth and final regular season game against one another, the Heat decided to rest LeBron James and Dwyane Wade while Carmelo Anthony exploded for a season-high 50 points.

The 3-1 regular season record has made believers out of some Knicks fans, who now expect the team to be destined for a conference finals matchup against Miami this season. It's dangerous to overlook the Boston Celtics or Indiana Pacers, the Knicks' likely opponents in the first two rounds of the playoffs, though.

If the Knicks do survive and advance to the conference finals to meet Miami, count sportswriters among those who'll be pleased. The stories virtually write themselves, with Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James clearly the two best players in the Eastern Conference this season.

James and the Heat wiped the Knicks out in five games in the first round of the 2012 playoffs, but this year's version of the Knicks stands a better chance at the upset. As Tom Haberstroh explained on ESPN.com (subscription required), the slow-paced, three-point dependent Knicks of 2012-13 are essentially structured to be the type of team that can beat the Heat.

However, can and will are two entirely different things. Anthony's late-season scoring explosion has only given Knicks fans more confidence about their postseason prospects, but the defending champion Heat won't be fazed by Anthony when they've got James, Wade and Chris Bosh on their side. 

3. San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

The San Antonio Spurs entered the 2012 Western Conference finals on an 18-game win streak, looking all but unstoppable in their quest to return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2007.

The young, upstart Oklahoma City Thunder had other ideas. After dropping the first two games of the conference finals to San Antonio, the Thunder rattled off four straight wins and sent the stunned Spurs home early for the summer.

The two teams could easily be headed for a conference finals rematch in 2013. The Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers and/or Memphis Grizzlies could throw a wrench into those plans, but the Spurs and the Thunder have established themselves as the top two teams in the Western Conference this season.

There's admittedly not as much bad blood between San Antonio and Oklahoma City as in a few of these other top rivalries. Instead, respectful competitiveness fuels this budding rivalry.

The small-market Thunder hope to emulate the success of the small-market Spurs, with Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti originally having started as an intern in San Antonio under Spurs general manager R.C. Buford.

The comparison between the two teams lost some of its luster once the Thunder traded away James Harden, who was a near-perfect replica of Spurs sixth man Manu Ginobili. If these two teams do clash in the conference finals, however, it will only add fuel to the fire for this budding rivalry.

2. Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat haven't exactly been best of friends since LeBron James and Chris Bosh took their talents to South Beach in the summer of 2010.

The two teams have clashed in each of the three most recent postseasons and waged one of the more memorable wars in recent playoff history during the 2012 Eastern Conference finals. The Celtics took a 3-2 lead over the Heat back to Boston for Game 6, but James staved off elimination with his unforgettable 45-point, 15-rebound, five-assist masterpiece.

The distaste between the Heat and the Celtics only grew stronger this past summer after Ray Allen turned down a reported two-year, $12 million offer from Boston (complete with a no-trade clause) in favor of a one-year, $3 million contract from Miami.

The decision caused Kevin Garnett to reportedly delete Allen's phone number, according to ESPNBoston.com, and Paul Pierce still hasn't talked to his former teammate since he left the Celtics, according to the Boston Herald.

When you pit that many future Hall-of-Famers against one another for a chance at an NBA championship, animosity is bound to brew. Allen's departure from Boston to Miami only exacerbated the already-growing tensions between the two franchises.

Unfortunately, the Celtics and Heat will find themselves on opposite sides of the Eastern Conference playoff bracket this season, meaning their only chance of matching up for a fourth straight year would come in the conference finals. If the basketball gods do decide to pit the two against one another once more, expect nothing short of an all-out war. 

1. LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant

No one likes finishing in second place.

That's what makes the budding rivalry between LeBron James and Kevin Durant so tantalizing.

Barring a major upset, Durant will finish second to James in this year's MVP race, despite the possibility of becoming the first player in the NBA history to lead the league in scoring while shooting at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line. Durant also appears likely to finish second behind James in both win shares and PER, too.

To make matters worse, Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder lost to James' Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals. If the Thunder survive the meat grinder that is this year's Western Conference playoffs, there's a strong chance the two will face off again in this year's Finals.

The bad blood between Durant and James hasn't spilled over off the court, as evidenced by their "Hell Week" workouts over the past two summers. James and Durant also found a way to co-exist as teammates during the 2012 London Olympics, helping secure a second straight gold medal for Team USA.

Don't expect that friendliness to carry over on the court if they end up squaring off again this year in the Finals. Both players want the title of being the best in the NBA, but unfortunately for them, there can only be one.