New York Knicks vs Miami Heat

This is one of the fiercest and heated rivalries in NBA history, and it didn t even reach the Eastern Conference Finals. These two teams were easily two of the most physical and brutal in the NBA. When they played against each other you knew it was going to be a slugfest, to put it nicely. The funny thing is that it may have all been started by a move from Pat Riley. In 1995, Riley stepped down as the Knicks coach after failing to make it back to the NBA Finals. The move seemed rather abrupt because the consensus was that New York was a good team and had something going for them going forward. The time to strike was perfect