The word rivalry is defined as “competition for the same objective or superiority in the same field.” Rivalries exist in all facets of life, but they are no more apparent than in the world of sport. With the end of the decade looming, here are the six most intense rivalries of the last ten years.
6. Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson
Competition between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson may not produce the mystique that Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus once did, but their rivalry has been exciting nonetheless. Without Tiger Woods, professional golf’s popularity would be a mere morsel of what it is today. The man has won 14 majors, holds his own tournament (the AT&T National), designed two beautiful courses, is the only golfer with his own video game, and garners public intrigue on the same level as world leaders. Still, his status as figurehead of professional golf wouldn’t have any merit without some stiff competition. Enter Phil Mickelson, Tiger’s only adversary with any staying power. When Mickelson won the 2000 Buick Invitational, he also officially ended Tiger’s streak of consecutive tournament wins at six. Over the years, Mickelson would hire Butch Harmon, Tiger’s former coach, and joke about Tiger’s use of “inferior equipment.” Still, their rivalry always remained amicable, even as Phil won his first major in ’04 (The Masters), the PGA Championship in ’05 another Green Jacket in ’06. During this year’s Masters, Tiger and Mickelson were finally paired together in a major event. Trudging down the final back nine at Augusta, the two golfers put on a show that thankfully lived up to the hype. –- Christopher Glotfelty
Ever since David Robinson retired, the Spurs have been trying to find a post partner for Tim Duncan. Rasho Nesterovic, Nazr Mohammed, Fabricio Oberto, Kurt Thomas, Matt Bonner, Tiago Splitter — the list goes on and on. Their latest attempt is a rumored offer to Yiannis Bouroussis, who plays for the Greek team Olympiakos.
According to reports out of Greece, the Spurs have offered Bouroussis a 3 year contract worth between 10.5 and 12 million. We’ve not received confirmation from anyone within the Spurs organization, so proceed with caution.
If true, this means the Spurs have offered him a significant share of their MLE. According to the reports, the Spurs made their offer during their recent trip to the Euroleague Final Four.
Bouroussis signing with the Spurs makes sense on several levels. He’s tremendous in the pick and roll and has three point range. His per minute stats are off the charts. The Spurs are making a calculated gamble, and the potential payoff is huge. When John Hollinger begins to translate his stats from Europe to the NBA, he’ll need to unbutton his collar and wipe the steam off his glasses. Bouroussis is all kinds of productive.
For more on the 6′ 11″ Bouroussis, check out his DraftExpress profile. He looks like an interesting prospect. There are concerns about his foot speed and lateral quickness, but he’s highly productive and is known to be a bruiser.
Mark Jackson mentioned Lucas’s comments about Kobe during last night’s broadcast and said he didn’t disagree.
Lucas goes on to compare Kobe to Michael Jordan, but we seem to be forgetting the elephant in the room…
Tim “The Big Fundamental” Duncan.
There is no doubt in my mind that Duncan is most fundamental player I’ve ever seen play. (Hence his nickname.) His post up game is polished, he doesn’t force anything, he is solid in all aspects of the game and he’s a tremendous defender. There is no doubt that Kobe is a great player, but he gets out of position sometimes defensively and he’s a streaky shooter because his shot is flat. Tim Duncan is the most fundamental player to ever play the game.
Disagree?
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With the Mavericks’ 106-93 Game 5 win in San Antonio, it is the first time that Tim Duncan has lost a first round series. Tony Parker shot 55% from the field, and averaged 28.6 points, 6.8 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game. Battling sore knees, Duncan still shot 53% from the field, averaging 19.8 points and 8.0 rebounds. Normally, those kinds of numbers from the Spurs’ top two players would result in a series win. What happened?
1. No supporting cast. Manu Ginobili was out. Duh. But the rest of the Spurs failed to step up in his absence. Parker and Duncan combined to shoot 100 of 185 (54%) in the series, which means everyone not named Tim or Tony combined to make just 75 of their 198 attempts (38%). Roger Mason shot 42% from long range during the season, but made just 37% in the series. The midseason addition of Drew Gooden was a bust; he averaged just 7.3 points and 3.8 rebounds, and shot 33% from the field. Without Ginobili, there wasn’t a third scorer to take the pressure off of Parker and Duncan.
2. Mediocre defense. The Mavs averaged 96.4 points per game, shot better than 46% from the field and better than 38% from long range during the series. Now those numbers are by no means eye-popping, but they are very un-Spurs-like. San Antonio just couldn’t get the consistent stops it needed to make up for its overall lack of scoring. Josh Howard and Dirk Nowitzki were both stellar, while J.J. Barea and Brandon Bass played great off the bench when Dallas needed it.
The Spurs head into the summer with zero cap space, but with the fiscal state of the league, they’ll have a good opportunity to add a quality player at the mid-level exception, assuming they want to spend the money. My guess is that they will, given that Tim Duncan’s championship window continues to get smaller and smaller. The team is fine in the backcourt, with Parker, Ginobili, Mason and George Hill. They need help on the wing and in the frontcourt, so the priority will likely be a big man. Rasheed Wallace’s name has been floated, but Zaza Pachulia, Anderson Varejao, Brandon Bass, Chris Andersen and Antonio McDyess are cheaper options.
Every so often, I’ll be sitting at a bar, throwing back a few adult beverages with a buddy or two and I’ll pose the following question:
If you could have one current NBA player to build your franchise around, with the goal of winning a NBA title in the next five years – who would it be?
Since the 2009 NBA Playoffs are in their infancy, it seems to be as good of a time as any to kick around this question. My criteria are simple – a franchise player has to be able to carry his team, while being reasonably young and injury-free.
We’ll count down from #10 to #1. My top nine guys were pretty easy to list, but #10 was a bitch. Maybe you can help me decide. Feel free to provide your own top 10.
HONORABLE MENTION
Yao Ming, Rockets (28 years-old) I love Yao’s post up game, and he is a skilled passer, but the chances are only 60/40 that he’ll be healthy for any given playoffs and those odds are only going to decrease as time wears on. He’s like Robert Downey, Jr. — he’s great at what he does, but you just don’t know if he’s going to be there when you need him.
Chauncey Billups, Nuggets (32) He seems to be more responsible than ‘Melo for the Nuggets’ great play this season, but he’s 32 years old. Still, his effectiveness depends more on strength, steady play and good shooting than it does his (somewhat limited) athleticism, so he should be able to play into his late thirties.
Al Jefferson, Timberwolves (24) Jefferson is one of the few young, back-to-the-basket post players in the league. He averaged 23/11 on a bad team, which leads me to believe he could post 19/10 on a playoff team, and should only get better with age.
Amare Stoudemire, Suns (26) He’s four years younger than our next guy, but he’s already had two serious injuries in his career so one wonders if this is a trend. He also seems to be a little bit on the selfish side and has a rep for being a bad defensive player.
