What are the greatest rivalries in NBA history? The NBA features some of the most intense rivalries in all sports.

Whether they’re divisional rivals, conference rivals, championship rivals, or two teams that simply hate each other, these matchups have given fans some of the most entertaining battles in basketball history.

Superstar players like Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird have been front and center for some of the most notorious moments—including fights, epic Game 7 battles, and championship wins.

Here are the most intense team rivalries in NBA history.

10. Los Angeles Lakers vs Sacramento Kings

The rivalry between Los Angeles Lakers & Sacramento Kings is probably the most controversial among all. Both teams had talented squads to compete for the championship. Eventually, the Lakers succeeded each of the three times from the 2000 to 2002 playoffs. Chris Webber & Jason Williams made the Kings unbeatable in the regular season of the NBA. On the other hand, the Lakers were also racing nicely in the league. Thanks to one of the greatest NBA duos formed by Shaquille-Kobe. Lakers won with flying colors on both occasions when they met Kings in the finals first two times. Meanwhile, in the 2002 playoff, the Lakers were on the rope trailing 2-3 against Kings. What happened later was just unacceptable to the Kings. With 27 free throws giving away to the Lakers, many official calls went against the Kings. That resulted in an undeserving loss to the Kings making them hate the Lakers forever.

9. New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2rwOa6vbP8

The New York Knicks – Miami Heat rivalry officially began when Pat Riley, formerly the head coach of the Knicks, became the president and coach of the Heat. Not long after, Miami would shoot up the standings and become one of the elite teams in the East, along with the Knicks, who were led by Jeff Van Gundy, previously one of Riley’s assistant coaches in New York. The Heat and Knicks were each led by former Georgetown centers during that era. In 1997, Alonzo Mourning’s Heat toppled Patrick Ewing’s Knicks in seven games in the conference semifinals. They would meet again in each of the next three years. However, in those years, despite the Knicks being the lower-seeded team each time, New York would oust Miami. The most memorable shot from their playoff matchups came in 1999 when Allan Houston connected on a game-winning runner with 0.8 seconds left in a decisive first-round Game 5.

8. Los Angeles Lakers vs San Antonio Spurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY_sO0tFtc4

The matchup everyone wanted to see in the early 2000s was Lakers versus Spurs, which also meant Shaquille O’Neal versus Tim Duncan, the two most dominant players of their era. L.A. and San Antonio met five times in a six-year span from 1999-2004, with the Lakers winning three of those series. The most stunning moment from their playoff showdowns came in 2004 when Derek Fisher drilled a game-winning buzzer-beater in Game 5. The Lakers and Spurs were also the two best Western Conference teams in the early 80s when L.A. featured Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and San Antonio had George Gervin, the league’s premier scorer at the time. They faced off twice in the conference finals then, with the Lakers winning both series.

7. Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs

Were the 2013 NBA Finals between the Heat and Spurs the most riveting championship series in league history? Some say it was, largely because of what transpired in Game 6. San Antonio appeared to have the game and series won before some missed free throws, missed rebounds and an unreal game-tying corner 3-point shot in regulation by Ray Allen changed the outcome. Miami would go on to win that game in overtime and then capture its second consecutive NBA title with a victory in Game 7. The two clubs would meet again the very next year in the Finals in a series dominated by San Antonio. Many basketball historians, in fact, say the Spurs displayed better ball movement in that 2014 Finals than any other team in Finals history.

6. New York Knicks vs Indiana Pacers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOd2ZNTpNu0

The Eastern Conference in the 90s featured several contentious rivalries. In fact, all of the elite teams in the conference were basically rivals of one another. None were more dramatic, though than the one between Indiana and New York, who faced off in the playoffs six times between 1993-2000. Reggie Miller versus Spike Lee was one layer of the rivalry, and every series between these two teams was testy. Despite Miller’s unforgettable 39-point performance in Game 5 at MSG during the 1994 conference finals, the Knicks eliminated the Pacers in seven games to advance to the Finals. A year later, in a series most remembered for Miller scoring eight points in nine seconds in Game 1, Indiana got revenge, beating New York in a thrilling Game 7 on the road. The Knicks defeated the Pacers in ’93, ’94, and ’99, while the Pacers knocked off the Knicks in ’95, ’98, and ’00.

5. Chicago Bulls vs New York Knicks

From 1989-1996, the Knicks and Bulls faced off in the playoffs seven times. The only time New York beat Chicago was when Michael Jordan was on his first basketball hiatus in 1994. Several of MJ’s most memorable postseason games came against the Knicks. In-Game 7 of the 1992 conference semifinals, Jordan erupted for 42 points to help the Bulls eliminate Patrick Ewing’s Knicks. The following year in the conference finals, Jordan poured in 54 points in Game 4 to tie the series up. One of the league’s greatest defensive sequences of all time occurred the very next game at Madison Square Garden when Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Horace Grant denied Charles Smith from scoring a potential go-ahead bucket in the final seconds with a series of blocks, strips, and swipes near the basket.

4. Boston Celtics vs Philadelphia 76ers

No two teams have met more times in the NBA playoffs than Boston and Philadelphia, as they’ve faced off 21 times throughout the league’s history if you include the early years when the 76ers were the Syracuse Nationals. Initially, the Sixers, then the Nationals, owned this rivalry, defeating the Celtics three straight years in the postseason in the mid-50s. That all changed, however, after Boston drafted Bill Russell and acquired others who would become all-time greats, including Tom Heinsohn. The C’s eliminated the Sixers seven of the eight times they matched up between 1957-1969. The exception was 1967 when Philly had Wilt Chamberlain in his prime. Years later, Larry Bird and Julius Erving was a must-see matchup. Boston and Philly split their four playoff meetings in the early 80s with those two leading their respective teams. The Celtics have won their last four postseason series against the Sixers, including in 2018 when Jayson Tatum led Boston past Joel Embiid and the 76ers in five games.

3. Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers

When LeBron James decided to return to Cleveland in 2014 following a four-year stay in Miami, everyone figured the Cavs would be in the Finals every season for the next several years, assuming James was healthy of course. But very few, if any, thought their opponent in the Finals during this time would repeatedly be the Warriors. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson bloomed into the greatest shooting backcourt in NBA history, and then Kevin Durant chose to join them in 2016, forming arguably the best trio in league history. The Cavs and Warriors met in the Finals four straight years, with Golden State winning three of the four. Cleveland – behind epic performances from James and Kyrie Irving – overcame a 3-1 series deficit in 2016 to deliver the city its first major pro sports championship since the Browns won the NFL title in 1964.

2. Chicago Bulls vs Detroit Pistons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwmmXmLuY2A

Detroit, featuring Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, and Bill Laimbeer, forced Michael Jordan and his Bulls teammates of that era to toughen up with how physical they were with them. The Pistons ousted the Bulls three straight years, first in the conference semifinals in 1988 and then in the conference finals the next two seasons before Chicago finally got the best of them in 1991. Following the sweep of Detroit that year in the conference finals, Chicago won its first of six NBA championships that decade.

1. Boston Celtics vs Los Angeles Lakers

A never-ending rivalry that started in the 1950s and still lasts. The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers faced each other 12 times in the NBA Finals from 1959 to 2010.  In those classics, Celtics took home nine titles while the Lakers got the job done three times.

The Celtics dominated the rivalry in the early years, defeating the Lakers in each of the first eight times they matched up in the finals, but the Lakers bounced back, winning three of the next four. The rivalry reached its apex in the 1980s with the Bird-Magic matchup, a battle between titans elevated the NBA into the national spotlight.

The rivalry was renewed in 2008 when the Celtics won the championship over the Lakers behind Garnett, Pierce, and Allen, but Los Angeles got their revenge in 2010, winning a seven-game series powered by Bryant and Gasol.