Joakim Noah and Roy Hibbert are the beasts of the East. They share a lot of things in common, and they have crossed paths for a long time. However, in the All-Stars, they may become BFFs.

There is no doubt that the more intense rivalries belong in the Eastern Conference now. They may be the much weaker conference, but the hatred is electric. With the Miami Heat taking the role of NBA villains, the intense playoff series they had with both the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers last season left some indelible scars.

Now, at the All-Star game, they have to share the locker room with Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat.

Joakim Noah shares his sentiments. The outspoken seven-footer from France speaks to nba.com: "It's always awkward. All-Star, that locker room, it's always awkward. At the end of the day, you realize you compete ... even a guy like [Indiana's] Roy Hibbert, I've been competing with Roy since college. Like, really battling. So it's strange to be in a situation like this where we're sitting next to each other in the locker room."

Roy Hibbert affirms that: "The only other person I talk to on the court is just Jo. We go back and forth. I saw him like an hour or two ago, we shook hands and said, 'We'll keep it cordial.' But yeah, everybody's been asking me about the Heat. I don't have any words for them. They say hello. We're all cordial to each other. It's all small talk, so I don't mind it." 'Cordial' is the word for the All-Stars-the diplomatic form of Awkward.

While the two big guys mentioned are relative newbies to the All-Star, Chris Bosh, one of the games' fixtures, disagrees: "It's only awkward if you make it awkward. It can be. But we've been in this mode so many different  times, we know how to handle it.