The 30 greatest NBA team rivalries in league history

9. Best NBA rivalries of all-time: Miami Heat vs. New York Knicks

The rivalry between the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks didn’t just happen on accident. Aside from their numerous playoff battles, layers were residing beneath the surface you may not have been able to see, but always knew were present.

Each time these teams faced off, it pitted two of the game’s best centers against each other in Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning. Both physically imposing men in the middle who hailed from Georgetown University, the two perennial NBA All-Stars were in a constant battle to assert dominance over the other.

Mourning had been teammates with then-Knick Larry Johnson for three seasons as members of the Charlotte Hornets. It’s easy to say these two didn’t split on the nicest of terms after Mourning had publicly complained about Johnson’s contract, a big no-no in any profession.

Pat Riley had helped amass an average of 55.8 wins during his four seasons in the Big Apple, including one NBA Finals appearance. That level of success didn’t stop him from heading down to South Beach after the Knicks had failed to offer him more control, despite what was then the biggest contract offer to a head coach ever.

As was the case with most 1990s matchups, these two teams bullied each other whenever they met. They matched up in four consecutive postseasons, which certainly didn’t help to smooth over their mutual animosity. If anything, the constant repetition only served to accentuate the bad blood that wound up spilling onto the court many times.

There was a fight between Mourning and Johnson. Charlie Ward and P.J. Brown took their beef into the photographers’ section of the stands. Things got so feisty that during a brawl in the 1997 NBA Playoffs, one could see Knicks head coach Jeff Van Gundy clamped to the leg of Mourning after a failed attempt to break up a skirmish.

It wasn’t just about winning. When the No. 8-seeded Knicks won their opening-round matchup with Miami in 1999 on a series-clinching buzzer-beater by Allan Houston, they reveled just as much in sending the Heat home in a colossal upset.

With so much drama behind this relationship, tempers were bound to flare at one point or another. That they met on numerous occasions in the playoffs was a gift from the basketball gods of sorts, a way for each to release their anger towards each other with the ultimate bragging rights on the line.