Derrick Rose & Kyrie Irving, finally.

from the AP via the Stamford Advocate c/o Charles Rex Arbogast, AP

The Chicago Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 96-81 at the United Center on Monday, but all the attention coming into the game went to the first-ever meeting between their star point guards, Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving.

Both players went #1 overall. Both won the Rookie of the Year Award. Both are asked to carry their franchises to great heights.

However, the actual mano-a-mano between the two didn't exactly meet the hype that preceded it.

Kyrie scored 39 points in that double-OT thriller against Philadelphia, but struggled against the defensive schemes of Tom Thibodeau, netting just 16 points on 5/19 shooting. He also missed all six of his attempts from the field in the first half, managing just a couple of free throws with 96 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

As for Derrick, he also finished with 16 points, but all the attention is focused on his right hamstring, which he tweaked with just over 3.5 minutes remaining in the game. He will be re-evaluated on Tuesday, but fortunately for him, their next game isn't until Friday against Toronto.

Interesting footnote to this affair is that Mike Krzyzewski was attending the game. The head coach of both Duke and USA senior men's basketball took in the game since the Blue Devils are in town for the Champions Classic matchup against Kansas at the same venue the next day.