The Miami Heat Vs. Indiana Pacers match-up is the biggest draw this year. Never mind the NBA Finals, the real championship is in the Eastern Conference Finals. Last season's ECF was a classic, and it made both teams even hungrier.

It has the main ingredients needed to brew a classic rivalry: excellence and hatred. Their mutual respect for each other's abilities is overridden by the fact that they are the only ones standing in the way of each other for the ultimate prize.

As a champion, your 'respect' is not given out too easily, and it should be exercised with some animosity. Grantland analyzed the match-up, and they have observed: "Indy is in Miami's head in the most obvious sense: The Heat revealed they actually cared about this game, a rare thing for a group that sometimes struggles to summon adequate motivation during the regular season and is choosy in giving out true respect to opponents."

It also extends to their strategy against each other. The Heat have special plays they use against the Pacers: "The Heat are doing stuff against Indiana they don't do against any other team, and it's a testament to Miami's versatility, smarts, and overall talent level that it can make on-the-fly stylistic changes so smoothly."

"Sometimes the Pacers will have their big man roll down one side of the floor just to bend Miami's defense in that direction before swinging the ball to the other side for a post-up - as illustrated in this recap of Game 4 of last season's conference finals."

The passion on the court, especially on the Heat side, is unheard of. In one instance, Lebron James and Mario Chalmers almost came to blows after blaming each other on a defensive lapse that gave Paul George an open three. These are the defending champions, and they are losing it over a regular season game in December.

It is quite inevitable that these two teams would meet again. No team in the East would stand a chance to beat them in a seven game series if they are healthy.