With rivalries like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and Michael Jordan and Isaiah Thomas, there are far more friendships in the NBA these days than rivals were in the past.

Some players, like Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics, retain an old-school edge even if there are more buddies in the NBA than ever before and fierce and resentful rivalries are fading away.Top-seeded Boston Celtics defeated the Miami Heat in five games to move on to the second round, where they will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers as strong favorites to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals once more.

Brown will play his close buddy Donovan Mitchell in this series, which has a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals on the line. The Celtics player won’t be lenient with Mitchell because of their friendship, claiming that there are “no friends in the playoffs,” which screams old school via Celtics on NBA Sports Boston.

There аre nо buddies in the plаyоffs, Brоwn declаred. I hаve tо get reаdy tо plаy nоw. Thаt is аll I cаn sаy.

With Boston the clear favorite and for good reason, nobody is expecting the Cavaliers to cause the Celtics much trouble in this second-round series as of right now.

With everyone obviously projecting the Celtics to win the second round, it will be intriguing to see whether Cleveland can force a series out of this.