For example, in Argentina a football (soccer) derby is River-Bcoa (there are the most famous team of my country).
Portland Trail Blazers actually has a rivalry with another team like Lakers-Celtics, Spurs-Mavs, Barcelona-Real Madrid?
I read about the i-5 rivalry with Sonics, or a posible rivalry with Nuggets, but i wanted to ask in this space
by valenrebo
9 Comments
That second sign lol.
Oden played more games for Portland than Durant did for Seattle. Checkmate green shirt dude.
I still contend that Utah has been the closest, consistent rival over the past 30+ yrs, as long as the sonics don’t exist
I think it’s still in debate, the only thing that is still agreed on is don’t stop the Lakers hate.
I think it has changed over the years, but I remember in the late 90’s and early 00’s it was the Lakers. Especially after the 2000 Blazer v Laker Game 7 choke job.
More recently it definitely has become the Nuggets. In my opinion it was solidified during the 2019 playoffs and the 4 OT.
Imo OKC is my favorite as a rival, sadly nowhere near as strong as earlier years though since Westbrook left OKC. (nothing felt better than watching us beat a Thunder team which took Seattle’s franchise, and Westbrook who was a menace to Dame)
none of the current “rivalries” is really comparable to Portland-Seattle before the Sonics moved to OKC. The Lakers will always be a big one because of a 20 year spell of big games and playoff matchups from about 1984-2004. Blazers fans still love to hate the Lakers but the Lakers probably see us as about their 10th biggest rival.
Other rivalries from playing each other a lot are the Jazz and Nuggets. The Nuggets are more recent rivals because we played twice in the playoffs and have traded some players back and forth.
There was a bit of a stylistic rivalry with the Warriors over the last 10 years – partially because we played in the playoffs a couple times (sigh), partially because many people compared the styles of Steph Curry and Dame, and because Dame is from Oakland. Also, the massive amount of people who’ve fled the Bay Area and moved to Portland in the last 20 years.
But really, in the current setup there is no true rival for the Blazers, which is sad. We really are on our own little island up in the PNW.
It’s the Nuggets. Next question
I remember a Nate McMillan quote when he was coaching the Zers. It was basically that he never realized there was even a rivalry with the Sonics until he started coaching in Portland. I always thought that was hilarious.
But Seattle and Denver would be my top 2 for a potential derby
Feels like rivalries just aren’t what they used to be in the NBA, with all the player movement, etc.
Definitely I’d say, Lakers, Denver, Utah, and when Seattle comes back, them again.