Cavs Opinion: Does Cleveland Have A New Rivalry Brewing?
Rivalries are what make sports fantastic. They add a little extra excitement for fans and can energize the players participating in the game.
Some of the Cleveland Cavaliers' biggest rivals over the years include the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, and Boston Celtics for a variety of different reasons. However, there could be a new rivalry brewing as the NBA enters a new era of basketball.
That's the Orlando Magic.
Dec 11, 2023; Orlando, Florida, USA; Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black (0) defends Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) during the second half at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff even acknowledged this after the game.
"They're a good team and we're 1-1 against them on the year," said Bickerstaff following Cleveland's loss on Monday night. "I think that's how this is going to go. It's going to be a nice competition, a nice little rivalry we can build with two young, talented teams."
Bickerstaff touched on the similarities between these two clubs a little bit here and the parallels are easy to see. The Cavs and Magic are both young teams looking to establish themselves as top Eastern Conference teams and have established players on the roster with savvy veterans.
Right now, this rivalry could be considered one out of respect with the roster being alike and each team having similar seasonal goals. However, a rivalry wouldn't be complete if not for a little chippiness or extra smack talk when the teams meet up.
We started to get a little bit of that on Monday night.
Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com noted that Georges Niang was standing on the bench talking a "massive amount of trash" with Jalen Suggs as he stood on Cleveland's side of the floor. The two did share a laugh during a stoppage of a play about the exchange.
A Cavs-Magic rivalry could be a great addition to the NBA in terms of competition and for the development of these two teams. Each team needs experience playing in tight, intense ball games and their interactions could provide just that.
Never every rivalry needs to be one fueled by hate.
These two teams will still meet two more times this season, so we'll see if there's any more evidence signaling a new budding rivalry between Cleveland and Orlando.
