Cavaliers&ndash;Celtics rivalry

Cavaliers–Celtics rivalry

The Cavaliers-Celtics rivalry is a National Basketball Association (NBA) rivalry between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in their first match-up, eventually winning their thirteenth championship in 1976. The next playoff match-ups occurred in 1985 with Boston winning the series in four games and 1992 where the Cavaliers would win their first series against the team in seven games. This series would mark the end of Larry Bird's career. It wasn't until 2008 when the LeBron James'-led Cleveland Cavaliers ran into the newly minted Boston Celtics' Big 3 when the rivalry would be upstarted again.
History
LeBron James vs. The Big 3
In the summer of 2007, general manager Danny Ainge made a series of moves that returned the Celtics to prominence. On draft night, he traded No. 5 pick Jeff Green, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West to Seattle for perennial all-star Ray Allen and Seattle's second-round pick (which the team used to select LSU's Glen "Big Baby" Davis). The Celtics then traded Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, and a first-round draft pick to the Timberwolves in exchange for superstar power forward Kevin Garnett. These moves created a new "Big Three" of Pierce, Allen, and Garnett.
In the 2007-08 season, Celtics completed the largest single-season turnaround in NBA history. The team went 66-16 in the regular season, a 42-game improvement over its 2006-07 record. However, the team struggled in the early rounds of the playoffs, needing seven games to defeat the Atlanta Hawks in the first round and another seven to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference semifinals.
During the 2009 off-season, the Cavaliers acquired four-time NBA champion and 15-time All Star center Shaquille O'Neal from the Phoenix Suns. The Cavaliers also signed wingman Anthony Parker, and forwards Leon Powe and Jamario Moon for the following season. On February 17, 2010, the Cavaliers acquired All-Star forward Antawn Jamison from the Washington Wizards and Sebastian Telfair from the Los Angeles Clippers in a three team trade. The Cavaliers originally lost Å½ydrÅ«nas Ilgauskas in this trade, but after being waived by Washington, he signed back with the Cavaliers on March 23 for the rest of the season. The Cavaliers managed to finish with the NBA's best record for the second straight season, with a 61-21 record. James was named the NBA MVP for the second consecutive year. The Cavaliers defeated the Chicago Bulls 4-1 in the first round of the 2010 NBA playoffs, but lost to the Boston Celtics in the semifinals after leading the series 2-1, with the Celtics proceeding to win 3 consecutive games.
With the Cavaliers out of the playoffs, the focus turned to James' impending free agency. On July 8, 2010, James announced in a nationally televised one-hour special titled The Decision on ESPN that he would be signing with the Miami Heat. The repercussions of this announcement left many in the city of Cleveland infuriated and feeling betrayed. A number of LeBron James jerseys were burned, and the famous Nike "Witness" mural of James in downtown Cleveland was immediately taken down. Following James' decision to sign with the Miami Heat, the Celtics shifted their rivalry with James towards the Heat instead, halting the Cavaliers-Celtics rivalry temporarily. After getting eliminated by them in 2010, the Heat would meet the Celtics in back-to-back playoff series, once in the semifinals and again in the conference finals with the Heat winning twice.
Return of LeBron James, rivalry resurgence
The Cavaliers became perennial title contenders between 2014-15 and 2017-18 NBA seasons following the return of LeBron James to Cleveland. On July 11, 2014, James revealed via a first-person essay in Sports Illustrated that he intended to return to the Cavaliers. In contrast to The Decision, his announcement to return to Cleveland was well received. A day later, he officially signed with the team, who had compiled a league-worst 97-215 record in the four seasons following his departure. A month after James' signing, the Cavaliers acquired Kevin Love from the Minnesota Timberwolves, forming a new star trio along with Kyrie Irving.
The Cavaliers entered the 2015 NBA playoffs as the second seed in the East with a 53-29 record. They advanced through the first three rounds of the playoffs virtually unchallenged, sweeping Boston in the first round, but Love would missed the remainder of the playoffs after he dislocated his left shoulder in the first quarter of Game 4 when he got tangled with the Celtics' Kelly Olynyk while battling for a loose ball. Love called it a "bush-league play", while Olynyk said he would "never intentionally hurt someone." The league ruled that Olynyk had "yanked Love's arm down", and suspended Olynyk for one game. Love underwent surgery to repair his shoulder and the team said he would need four to six months to recover. However, during the post-trade physical examination by Cleveland staff, concerns were raised about the health of Thomas' previously injured hip. As a result, eight days after the deal was announced, the Celtics agreed to send the Cavaliers a 2020 second-round draft pick via the Miami Heat to complete the trade. It was later reported that Thomas had been playing with a number of secondary issues in his hip, such as a loss of cartilage and some arthritis, for several seasons. Thomas was later traded to the Los Angeles Lakers as part of a trade deadline overhaul that saw the Cavaliers add several young players. The Cavaliers would again meet the Celtics in another conference finals where the Cavaliers won in 7 games despite the home team winning the first 6 games. The following offseason, James declined his player option to rejoin the team, instead signing with the Lakers. In the following two seasons, the team recorded only 19 wins and failed to make the playoffs.
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