NBA Pre-Season: Paul Pierce Vs Joakim Noah Fight! [VIDEO] Washington Wizards Renew Rivalry With Chicago Bulls After Last Year’s Tight Playoff Match Up!
The NBA Pre-Season was supposed to be meaningless games designed to whet fans' appetites and get players in condition. It's definitely not the venue where you would expect intense confrontations. But when you've got a seemingly unsettled rivalry spilling over from last season's playoffs, anything can happen.
Moreso when you acquire one of the league's most notorious instigators. The Washington Wizards acquired Paul Pierce during the summer and Pierce immediately picked up on the Wizards recently established history with Chicago.
"The Truth" is not exactly a stranger to skirmishes especially with the Bulls, whom they have fought many a post season.
Bullets Forever had the lowdown:
"The Wizards and Bulls are ready to fight. The Wizards talked a lot about toughness prior to the season, with Pierce's talk about protecting the Verizon Center and Dejuan Blair's reference to the 'DC Bad Boys.' It only took 3 minutes or so until the Wizards and Bulls reignited the fiery physical rivalry they had in the 2014 Playoffs."
That's right, the Washington Wizards are actually taking great pride and making it their identity to play hard and physical this season. The "Bad Boys" reference is directed towards the Detroit Pistons of the 80s who won two championships among an era of super teams like the Lakers and the Celtics.
The Chicago Bulls is penciled as a contender in the East and the Wizards want to send the message. The Pierce-Noah altercation wasn't the only one, as the DC Bad Boys took down Jimmy Butler one more time.
BF once again: "There was a potential moment of conflict when Kevin Seraphin set a tough moving screen on Jimmy Butler that sent Butler reeling to the ground in the second half. As on the foul on Pierce in the first quarter, Butler's head showed a remarkable sensitivity to a hit that came to an entirely different part of his body."
Suddenly, the Bulls-Wizards match-ups get marked on the NBA Schedule. It's a must-see!