The question is simple, given all that has come before: do the Washington Wizards dislike the Boston Celtics, Bradley Beal?
“Yeah,” Beal said last Tuesday, after a beat. “I guess, yeah, you could say that. And they don’t like us. It is what it is. I think we’re all grown men and we’re just able to play ball. It makes it more competitive, right? That’s like playoff basketball halfway through the season. It gives you a little taste and a little foreshadow of what may come.”
This makes me happy.
The NBA of my youth and my early career was one filled with rancor, petty jealousies, cheap shots, occasional brawls and -- if we were really lucky -- genuine hatreds. The Detroit Pistons hated the Chicago Bulls, and vice versa. The Celtics hated the Los Angeles Lakers, and vice versa. It made the competitions between those teams, and others with similar animosities toward one another, that much deeper and meaningful.
Today’s league is much more fraternal, comfier, chummy. Guys play with and against one another for years on the AAU circuit before they ever set foot in NBA arenas. Hey, the world changes. It’s fine if guys are friendlier with one another these days. But sometimes you miss the old battles. And that’s why even a minor tempest between teams, as with the Wizards and Celtics last week, draws so much attention.
It was the culmination of a couple of year’s worth of dustups -- Jae Crowder accusing then-Wizards coach Randy Wittman of cursing at him during a game a year ago. Marcus Smart breaking Beal’s nose and giving him a concussion with an elbow a little more than a week later. Crowder sticking a finger in John Wall’s face after the Celtics handled the Wizards in Boston last month, which led to shoves and postgame woofing, and fines for both Wall and Crowder.
:x
