A brief history of the Wizards-Celtics rivalry

A new rivalry has been formed in the league, between the Celtics and Wizards, and it is a great time to be a fan.

The Boston Celtics have plenty of rivalries. The Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, and the New York Knicks. If you wanted to, you could even include the Miami Heat. Some of those rivalries were made in the past but they’re still prevalent today. The Washington Wizards have no preexisting rivalries to speak of, considering they have never been consistently good enough to build them.

Now the Wizards are a top team in the East and a new rivalry has sprouted between the Wizards and the Celtics.

The history of this new rivalry is short but oh so sweet. The first three games of the series have been a fierce continuation of what started during the regular season. Good news for NBA fans is that we have at least two more games before someone gets eliminated.

Last night, in Game 3, Washington beat the Celtics, 116-89, and proved that they won’t be an easy out against the Celtics. The highlight of the night came from Kelly Oubre Jr.

Yup. Our first real NBA fight in the playoffs.

Kelly Oubre was merely minding his business playing defense on Isaiah Thomas and then BAM! He gets laid out by Kelly Olynyk’s hard screen. Oubre fell right to the floor. It was a matter of milliseconds before Oubre was already up and charging towards Olynyk, who was complaining to the referee about something. Once Oubre reached Olynyk, he knocked him over and was talking some smack in the process.

Oubre was ejected from the game, for obvious reasons. The question that stems from Oubre’s action is: How did it reach this point? Is the rivalry really this serious already? These two teams are ready to come to blows?

The short answer is yes, but a brief bit of history is needed to understand exactly where this rivalry came from. We can trace the origins to the beginning of the season when John Wall violently pulled Marcus Smart to the floor as Smart tried to bring the ball up the court.

Wall was ejected from the game with a flagrant two foul, and rightfully so. That altercation was back in November of 2016, though. So, the Wizards and Wall would surely forget about this right? Well, sort of.

After a handful of other altercations throughout the game in January, this moment was the boiling point. Jae Crowder was trying to prove his point to Wall, so, naturally, he poked his nose. That is a big no-no. Do you remember the saying, “You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose?” That applies here. You should never touch another man’s nose unless you are trying to pick a fight.

Wall was clearly not a fan of Crowder’s actions, so he convinced his teammates to wear all black clothing for their next meeting with the Celtics. Why all black? Because, according to Wall, it was the Celtics’ funeral.

I smell pettiness in the air. It would have been embarrassing if the Wizards lost, but, luckily, Bradley Beal and Wall were both on fire during the game.

All of these silly antics have turned into high emotions on the court and it is thrilling to watch. This rivalry has the potential to be great, but both sides need to be willing to commit to a long feud. Personally, I think they are. Just look at all of the examples listed above.

Next: 30 best shots in NBA playoffs history

Any impartial NBA fan is rooting for a seven game series right now; I know I am.