"The closest thing to a rival, if LeBron has one" - Dwyane Wade said Paul Pierce is LeBron's biggest rival ever

Between 2008 and 2012, LeBron James didn’t play a team more in the NBA playoffs than the Boston Celtics . From going solo in his latter Cleveland years to joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat, King James’ battles against the C’s were always a treat.

"[Paul Pierce] is the closest thing to a rival, if LeBron has one," Wade said in 2012, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. "They make it tough on each other."

Watching from afar and up close, the Miami guard saw a special intensity each time James and Paul Pierce stood toe-to-toe in a high-stakes playoff game. During No. 23’s time in Cleveland, the Boston forward often got the better of him — winning 8 of 13 matchups between 2007-08 and 2009-10 campaigns. Bron, having much less help, often left it out on the court: win, lose or draw.

“Oh, we know each other,” James said. “More than any other matchup in the league. We know each other’s likes and dislikes.”

The Cavs superstar was always regarded as the better player. But Pierce, one to back down from no one, wasn’t threatened by the aura of LeBron anytime he stood across him.

“I don’t think it is like or dislike, it is what it is,” Pierce said. “He’s been on some great teams, I’ve been on some great teams and we’ve had to face one another. After awhile it became a mutual respect for the things he’s done in this league and the things I’ve done in this league.”

Their greatest duel?

Perhaps the pinnacle of the star forwards’ rivalry came in 2008—their first postseason face-off—when both registered over 40 points in a do-or-die Game 7. James and the Cavs set out to defend their Eastern Conference crown. But with the Celtics forming the first modern-day big-3 the previous summer, the task at hand just got a lot harder.

Over three regular-season meetings, James averaged 32.2 points, 9.7 assists, and 7.0 against Boston, winning two of the three matchups. But playing a 7-game series allows defenses to try different schemes and game-planning against you. Though the Cavs entered the Semifinals against Boston as the favorites, it was going to take an extraordinary effort by the 23-year-old James to pull it off.

Six games later, Game 7 was set in Boston.

Over the series, James had shot a combined 41-128 from the floor. Still, it was 3-3 with a puncher's chance in the final game for both teams. This was James' opportunity to pull off what would've been remembered as one of his greatest achievements ever. As the lone star on his team against the Big-3 in Boston, “The Chosen One” would need an all-timer. He did just that.

In Game 7, James made 14 of his 29 shot attempts, scoring 45 big points in a classic duel against his arch-rival. The two went nose-to-nose in the first half: 23 points for James and 26 points for Pierce. Thanks to three Cavs starters failing to score a single first-half point, the Cavs trailed 40-50 at halftime.

The King played all but 2 minutes in the first half. Already feeling the energy draining from his legs, James was still looking at full-go in the second half.

In Boston, erasing a 10-point lead in a playoff game seemed next to impossible. But considering the Cavs were down just that with James outscoring the rest of his roster by 6 points, there was hope that the superstar would get some help down the stretch and that Cleveland had a reasonable shot in this game.

After both forwards played to a standstill in the 3rd quarter, No. 23 scored 13 points to Boston's big-3 combined 14 points in the final period. Despite nearly outscoring three All-Stars on the opposing team, the Cavs fell just short of a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they would've played Detroit.

Related: Scottie Pippen on how Michael Jordan would have reacted if he left the Bulls: "He would have probably tried to shoot more and score more"

A great rivalry

In 2008, Pierce dispatched LeBron’s Cavs and won his one and only championship. Two years later, No. 34 led the way in forcing The Chosen One out of Cleveland to Miami. After trying and trying some more, No. 23 couldn’t overcome the Big-3 in Boston. But funny enough, the Celtics trio pushed Bro into forming his own trio.

In 2011, the two-time MVP earned his second NBA Finals appearance — kicking Pierce’s Celtics out of the tournament in the process. A year later, James had his shining moment down 3-2 to Boston. In Game 6, the 6-foot-9 locomotive poured it on in TD Garden when he went for 45 points and 15 rebounds. Weeks later, he finally claimed his first NBA championship and effectively closed Pierce’s championship window with Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.

Related: "I think I might need to start making that petition … he deserves an invite" - LeBron once made the case that J.R. Smith should be Cavs' fourth All-Star