Rose vs Irving pt.1! What a big disappointment!

##Rose won the battle then got hurt## SMH##

I waited a very, very long time for this match-up and I will say that I was very disappointed and very disgusted at both Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving. They both played like crap and I actually lost respect for both of them! Derrick Rose won the match-up by playing smothering defense on Kyrie so in terms of him making his mark on Irving he drew first blood which is actually great for his confidence because his ego obviously has been bruised. Why? This match-up was likened to be the battle for PG supremacy. Rose has been in a slump since the first game and has played horrible since but this was this was the one opponent he could not let outshine him in terms of his respective position.

 Kyrie basically has done what Rose did over the last two years in terms of outplaying every NBA PG he’s faced and moving the spotlight on him as the NBA’s next great PG. Rose and Kyrie have never faced each other so I’m sure the fans were hoping to see both players dazzle the crowd and shine while bring their A+ game. But they didn’t. In fact Irving played so bad he didn’t score a field goal until the 4^th quarter! Rose has looked better over the last two games but mentally something is still not clicking. Normally when players suffer from an ACL injury the one part of their game that come back improved is their shot because that’s all they can work on. And Rose has been shooting for over a year now.  His shot and touch seemed to be on par with that theory during pre-season while he shot a blistering percentage from behind the arc. 

Flash forward to the second week of the season and his jumper is still broke. That’s all mental because the speed of the preseason versus the regular season has nothing to do with him missing wide open jumpers, missing 5 foot floaters and those pull-up jumpers he can’t seem to knock down!  Plus there are many PG’s who still are not a big, strong, fast or have as many skills as him who are still player better than him. Then to top it all off got injured and now is listed as day-to-day with an issue with his hamstring.

Now to talk about Kyrie the Bulls played phenomenal defense on him especially Rose like I mentioned earlier in but he wasn’t being aggressive at all and he played so bad it’s not even worth showcasing his highlights. He scored 16 points but most of that came in garbage time and clearly was not representative of how horribly he played. It was as if he was intimidated by Rose whom Irving should’ve attacked considering Rose has been limited as of late. He was playing so bad he got ripped by Kirk Hinrich!  Kudos to Rose for showing him that Kyrie still needs to work on his atrocious defense as well. Kyrie is one of the worst defenders in the NBA in terms of a player that has his type of elite talent. And I imagine eventually the game will click for Rose and his will find his groove which potentially spells trouble for Kyrie the next time they play because nothing was wrong with Kyrie physically before he proceeded to have the worst game of his career! 

##IVERSON VS STARBURY##WHAT I EXPECTED##

I imagined this game was going to have the same electricity and excitement  like the first time Iverson and Marbury faced each other in the NBA but boy was I wrong. The NBA today just doesn’t have that same luster. Players today are not as competitive as they were back in the 90’s. Rose or Kyrie would rather call for a screen and create than to at least give the fans some type of excitements by displaying their individual skills. I love the way the NBA teams run their offenses today. I think PG’s have to be a lot more systematic in order to best successful but damn it I miss the days when at certain moments of the game when a star player would tell the team to clear out and two stars would go at it! 

The NBA also is entertainment for the fans that pay good money to either watch the game at home or in the stands and Kyrie and Rose both need to give their salary for that game to charity!  I hope the  Commissioner  Silver gives that memo to the players that the fans are not getting the best product for their purchase! Who wants to see player like Rose and Irving call screens and picks all night against each other? Are you crazy? What is wrong with them?  A young Iverson or Marbury would’ve tried to tear their hearts out!  There weren’t calling pick after pick. They both had a point to prove and the best man during that time team usually won. Why wouldn’t Rose or Irving want to really test their skills against each other to really show who is the best?