Paul Pierce On Rivalry With LeBron James: “It’s Like Fighting For The Same Girl”

“Rivalries aren’t really rivalries unless the teams and players hate each other!” Well, tell that to Paul Pierce and LeBron James. Ahead of their first matchup as members of the Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers tonight, The Truth offered rare insight to his hyper-competitive and oft-contentious relationship with The King: “I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

Via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

“I think a lot [about his rivalry with James] is really misunderstood,” Pierce said Thursday. “If I see LeBron walking down the street, it’s not going to be no fistfight. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. It’s like fighting for the same girl. How am I going to be cool with that guy? I’ve got total respect for him as a person. It’s just the thing we go through on the court.”

Cue fans of the previous basketball generation crowing about the lack of outright hostility between today’s stars. We hear you; we get it. But you’re also wrong.

Pierce has always understood the perfect balance of malice and goodwill when it comes to competition. He’ll do almost anything to win, but is hardly a dirty player nor a guy that’s full-time antagonist. The way he describes his rivalry with James – just two extremely driven and talented individuals working to achieve the same goal – is what sports are all about.

Of course Pierce and James wouldn’t come to blows upon meeting randomly in public. They might not be Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain or Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, but there’s a mutual respect here forged from a decade of intense competition against one another.

Friday night’s game will break a 32-32 win-loss tie – postseason included – between the future Hall-of-Famers. That’s indicative of remarkably steady play from both Pierce and James, a reality hardly lost on the latter:

The re-shaped Wizards and Cavs’ first meeting of the season provides an opportunity for high drama beyond Pierce and James, too. Opposing backcourts traded barbs during the preseason, and Washington no doubt feels compelled to squash the notion that Cleveland can immediately usurp them in the conference pecking order after it took so much work for John Wall and company to become contenders.

Still, we know where our subconscious attention will be – on the classic battle at small forward. Might there be more fireworks in store tonight? Pierce said yesterday that he certainly wouldn’t be surprised if that proves the case:

“It’s just something about great players when they play in certain arenas or against other great players. They elevate their play. LeBron is one of those guys. He feels the moment. He understands the moment. And this could be a moment tomorrow.”

The Wizards and Cavaliers face-off at 8:00EST on ESPN.

What do you think?

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