Saturday, October 9, 2010

John Calipari's Young Pupils Face Off In Intense Battle Last Night

Posted by CoHoops Josh Dhani
Derrrick Rose came out on top in the young and rising point guard competition versus rookie John Wall as the Chicago Bulls improve to 1-2, beating the Washington Wizards in a 107-96 win, dropping the Wizards to 2-1.

Rose had 18 points, five rebounds, and five assists while Wall had eleven points and six assists.

"When you're on the court, you want to see where a player is," Rose said. "It's just the way I am. I'm always going to attack and make sure a player is on his heels.

"It's challenging, knowing you can guard a guy that fast. It gives me confidence for the next time I'm out there against somebody that mobile. He's a good player."

Both players have both played for head coach John Calipari, who attended the game to watch his college projects perform well.

Kirk Hinrich played well against his old squad, after playing for the Bulls for the past seven seasons.

"([t's] a little bit [weird], being in the other locker room," Hinrich said before the game. "I've never seen it before. It was weird the first time I put on this uniform, too, but I've gotten over that."

He received a great ovation from the crowd.

"He don't even look right in that jersey," Rose said.

Kyle Korver had 17 points and Joakim Noah had twelve points, along with eleven rebounds for the Bulls.

Gilbert Arenas led the Wizards with 16 points.

Rose was drafted as the number one pick of the 2008 NBA Draft, playing under Calipari for the Memphis Tigers. Wall was the number one draft pick this season, playing for Calipari with the Kentucky Wildcats.

"I told these guys, don't get crazy. It's exhibition," said Calipari, adding that his advice to both players was to be "humble and hungry."

It went a bit slow in the first half, but when the second half rolled by, things started to get competitive between the two.

"I thought [Rose] gave us real good flow by getting guys involved and moving the ball," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "And then in the third quarter, he got real aggressive and took the ball inside."

The Wizards were outrebounded by Chicago, 48-32, most importantly because of their three-guard line-up.

"Our team has to rebound," Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. "It's not our guards getting beat on the glass, it's our bigs."

Saunders didn't want Wall to read Rose too much in his first match-up versus the young Bulls' guard.

"I think if John has a great game, I don't want him to think he's arrived already," Saunders said. "If he has a bad game, I don't want him to think he's not worth a [darn]. ... I think John will be more excited to play against him than he'll look at it as a measuring stick. John loves to compete, no matter who he plays against.

"[Rose and Wall] play each other four times a year, and [these matchups] are how they're going to be judged."

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