While Derrick Rose has emerged as a front-runner in the conversation for NBA MVP, many of his detractors point to Deron Williams and Chris Paul, widely considered to be the two best point guards in the league. They argue that Rose isn't even the best point guard in the league.
The logic says, if he's not the best at his position, then how can he be the MVP?
The recently completed road trip offered a unique opportunity as Rose faced Williams and Paul in back-to-back games.
He outplayed them both, establishing if he's not the best point guard in the league, he certainly deserves as much of a place in the conversation as his other two peers.
Tonight, after Chris Paul opened up strong, scoring eight points on only three attempts to go with two assists in the opening frame. Rose also scored eight points, but on eight attempts and only had one assist to go with it.
It looked like the game might go as many would expect. Paul scoring as many points, but much more efficiently, and getting more assists in the process.
That's not how things finished out, though. Rose scored 15 more points, attempting only seven more shots, and Paul scored only seven more points on the same number of attempts. The two point guards ended up with thee same number of assists with six.
Now Paul did have two fewer turnovers and two more steals, but Rose outscored Paul 23-15 in two fewer minutes, was more efficient, and had two more rebounds.
Rose was a +7 to Paul's -6. His team also won the game going away. Just for good measure, add that he did it in Paul's house.
In the final quarter, Rose had six points, no missed field goals, two assists and a steal. Chris Paul had a point. Ten of the Bulls points were a direct result of Rose, one of the Hornets points were a result of Paul. The Bulls won by nine.
As was the case against the Jazz on Wednesday night, Rose seemed to take the challenge to heart, wanting to establish he is the best point guard in the league. After the shaky first quarter, Rose won the overall fight three rounds to one.
In the game against Utah, Rose outscored Williams 29-11 and was also far more efficient than his counterpart. Williams had 12 assists to Rose's seven, but he also had five turnovers to Rose's one. Rose was +1 while Williams was a -3.
Most tellingly, on two of Utah's last possessions, Rose had a steal from Williams on one, and cut off his dribble, forcing a bad pass that resulted in another turnover, on the next. That turnover resulted in two Ronnie Brewer free throws that decided the game.
Not only did Rose outplay his counterparts, he did so at the end of both games, outplaying them the most when it was most important.
While admittedly, two games is not enough to claim supremacy, this certainly establishes that Rose belongs in the conversation.
When you add what he's done over the bulk of only his third season in the NBA, it's almost impossible to leave him out.
Derrick Rose is elevating his game to another level, and at least this week, it was a level above Chris Paul or Deron Williams.
Halle Berry Catherine Bell Tessie Santiago Jessica Simpson Mandy Moore
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