NBA Playoffs 2015: 10 reasons Cavaliers will beat Bulls

By Josh Hill | May 4, 2015

Apr 5, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23), guard Iman Shumpert (4) and guard Kyrie Irving (2) celebrate as Chicago Bulls guard Aaron Brooks (0) looks on in the third quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

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Mar 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) grabs a rebound against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /

Kyrie Irving Will Use Series To Elevate Superstardom

We’ve been waiting for a moment when Kyrie Irving is going to take his stardom to an elite level, and what better stage and a surrogate conference finals situation against Derrick Rose? This is the moment that Kyrie needs to prove that he’s more than worth every penny of his max contract and he can do it on the grandest stage of his career so far.

Against Boston, Kyrie displayed that he’s not fazed by the playoff atmosphere, and he backed that up time and time again in the series. That was Kyrie’s coming out party, but it’s time for him to immediately take things to the next level. Derrick Rose sees this series as the same opportunity for him as it is for Kyrie, as Rose can re-establish himself as a superstar point guard by dominating Kyrie.

No one is going outright dominate the other in this series, but Kyrie has a chance to build on his points-per-game average that is on the rise in his first trip to the postseason. Derrick Rose is still getting his defensive footing back, and if Kyrie can expose him and beat him on drives in the lane, that could start to show the cracks in the Bulls foundation. Rose won’t break — at least we hope not physically — in this series, but Kyrie can take this opportunity to one up him and become a star at the expense of his counterpart.

Bulls Response: The Kyrie Irving/Derrick Rose match up will be quite interesting. I have to give it to Kyrie, he is probably one of the best, if not the best point guard in the league. Since Rose suffered his critical knee injury he hasn’t been the same player, and since then Kyrie has been establishing himself as a premiere NBA super star. However, Derrick Rose will probably offset Kyrie’s advantage over him enough to give the Bulls far deeper and superior team composition a chance to come on top each game.

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