Miami Heat vs Brooklyn Nets: The Start Of A Beautiful Rivalry?

The NBA season doesn’t tip off until Oct. 29, so any other game before then is meaningless right? Apparently nobody told the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets.

Thursday night’s preseason game was much-anticipated for several reasons: First-year coach Jason Kidd had his No. 5 jersey hung up in the rafters and the revamped Brooklyn Nets were looking to flex their new-found muscle against a bona fide championship contender. We were going to witness some of the greatest to play the game go head-to-head.

However, as luck would have it, we may have a rivalry budding between the two Eastern Conference giants following some verbal blows off the court and chippiness on it between the Heat’s LeBron James and the Nets’ Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

When Ray Allen decided to join the rival Miami Heat in the quest of another championship ring last year, his former teammates didn’t take it so well; Garnett “lost” his number and Pierce labelled it as “unforgivable.” And understandably so, after all, he basically went and slept with enemy.

Hell, even Jason Terry–who became Allen’s replacement–had a few choice words about his predecessor.

Wade and LeBron felt the need to bring up Garnett and Pierce swapping Celtic Green for Brooklyn Black, essentially calling the pair hypocrites and calling for them to apologize to Ray Allen.

"“I think the first thing I thought was, ‘Wow, Ray got killed for leaving Boston, and now these guys are leaving Boston,'” James said. “I think it’s OK; I didn’t mind it. But there were a couple of guys who basically [expletive] on Ray for leaving, and now they’re leaving. (Espn.com)"

To a certain extent, LeBron and Wade are right; Kevin Garnett’s contract did feature a no-trade clause which gave him the power to nullify any trade involving him. Instead, he chose to accept it and leave the nose-diving Celtics, just as Ray Allen did.

Pierce, on the other hand, was essentially a passenger in the trade as he didn’t have the same luxury of choosing which trade he preferred. Heck, were it not for the Angel of Stern stepping in to veto the deal, KG could have been sipping pina coladas with Doc Rivers in L.A. right now.

The game itself perhaps gave LeBron and Co. a little taste of what is to come as they were roughed up on numerous occasions when going into the paint. Merely halfway through the first quarter of the contest, Paul Pierce took the liberty of send a message, not only to the defending champs, but the rest of the league as well by giving the James a bump as he tried to steamroll his way to the basket as he so often does.

Had the foul occurred during the playoffs in April, no one would have though much of it, but this is the preseason, where games are as meaningful as my trophy collection–they both count for nothing. But not according to Pierce:

"“That’s going to (be) our identity. It’s a message to the league. We definitely want to be a hard, grind-it-out team,” Pierce said of the Nets’ defensive philosophy. “We don’t (want) anything to be easy for the other team.”"

And after Brooklyn was done dishing out an 86-62 beatdown on the Heat, KG (who isn’t exactly one to mince his words or shy away from speaking his mind) let rip on the King.

"“Tell LeBron worry about Miami; he has nothing to do with Celtic business,” said Garnett, clenching his teeth on the word “business” and tapping his hands on the stand in front of him. “Next question,” he said."

Obviously LeBron isn’t really in a position to lecture players on loyalty and pledging allegiance to a team thanks to the infamous “Decision” but hey, who cares? I’m getting my popcorn ready for the next encounter between these two on Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, in addition to the other fixtures over the course of the season.

Perhaps Dwyane Wade said it best:

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