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The Boston Celtics were arguably Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat's biggest rivals in the East during the so-called “Big Three” era from 2011 to 2014.
D-Wade acknowledged that on Friday when asked by a fan during his AMA session with Bleacher Report. The three-time NBA champion bared that it was the Celtics that challenged the Heat the most, more than the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers who they also faced in the Eastern Conference Finals during that stretch.
“I’m gonna go ahead and say the Celtics. They challenged us mentally more than anyone else. I love interacting with Kevin Garnett. He trash talked and left it at that. But any time we were away from the competition it was always love,” Wade shared.
Dwyane Wade, who already won an NBA title in 2006 with the Heat, added two more to his collection once his 2003 batchmates LeBron James and Chris Bosh took their talents to South Beach.
The Celtics, however, had the tools to match-up against the Heat's youthful bunch as they had established superstars in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. That trio morphed into a Big 4 once point guard Rajon Rondo developed into an elite playmaker.
But the Heat proved to have the Celtics' number by eliminating them in the 2011 semis in just five games. The two bitter rivals faced once more in the ECF a year later. The highly-competitive series stretched seven games, with Miami winning the decider to reach the Finals for the second straight time.
That short-lived rivalry was indeed a proverbial passing of the torch, as the Celtics relinquished their position as alpha dogs of the East to Wade and company.
