Joakim Noah is one of the most underrated career rivals LeBron James has had. The former Defensive Player of the Year never beat LeBron in the playoffs but the pair had a heated rivalry, including Noah trash-talking James' home city of Cleveland. Noah has commented on that rivalry, revealing his hate wasn't for the city but for the frustration of losing to LeBron every year.
“People have to understand it had nothing to do with Cleveland, it had everything to do with that motherf****er, LeBron James. Every year, you're losing. You know you have to get through him, that's where it came from. LeBron was so good, he was stuntin on us. He over here dancing before the game, I see this sh*t. This sh*t drove me f***ing nuts. I had to let him know but because it's LeBron James and all this sh*t, people think I... It's other cities that are just as wack.”
Joakim Noah played against LeBron in four playoff series in his career. Every single one of those matchups ended with LeBron's team on top. James overcame Noah's Bulls in five games while on the Cavaliers in 2010, following it up with another five-game series in 2011 while on the Heat.
The 2013 Playoffs would bring their teams together again, and it was another five-game series that went LeBron's way. Their last playoff encounter came in 2015 when LeBron returned to the Cavaliers. Even with all the changes, James and the Cavs won that series in six games. Noah has an all-time 5-16 record against LeBron in the Playoffs.
James averaged 26.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 7.9 assists against Noah's Bulls in the postseason while Noah averaged 8.7 points and 10.6 rebounds against LeBron.
The Rivalry Between The Bulls And LeBron's Teams Was Intense
LeBron James was the only name to be worried about in the Eastern Conference for a decade, making an unprecedented 8 Finals appearances in consecutive years from 2011 to 2018. Everyone, including Noah and the Bulls' knew that they had to dethrone LeBron just for a chance to make the Finals.
Joakim has previously elaborated on the intensity of the rivalry, claiming it felt personal to him and had genuine bad blood between the franchises.
"It was bad. We were competing against these guys, but it was, like, bad blood. They weren't f**king with us. We weren't f**king with them. It was personal. I remember him being in the gym and I didn't even know where to put myself and I remember him on the sidelines being like, 'Yo, good luck. Keep it up.' And I don't even know if he knows this, but it just like meant a lot to me."
It's never been stated if Noah and LeBron squashed their rivalry, but time would have healed most of the wounds in this case. After all, Noah made his initial comments on Udonis Haslem's podcast, one of the players that handed some of those brutal playoff losses to Noah alongside LeBron.
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