2010: MVP Derrick Rose (28pts) vs Russell Westbrook (28pts) #SomethingYouForgot

October 27, 2010: Friends Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook square off in the 2010-11 NBA season opener at OKC. It was Rose's and Westbrook's 3rd season. Rose was 22 and Westbrook 21, this game falling in between their birthdays, which are only 39 days apart. It was the Thunder's 3rd season after leaving Seattle; Westbrook had actually been drafted as a Sonic, 4th overall in the 2008 draft - 3 positions after 1st pick Derrick Rose. Rose had been the highly recruited phenom out of highschool with a questionable academic standing. Juxtapose that with Westbrook, a 3.9 student who received not nearly the attention Rose had. Rose's Memphis Tigers would lose in the 2008 NCAA championship game; to get there, they went through Westbrook's UCLA. (I have an edit of that game using this same instrumental (Something You Forgot)). Consider this volume 2. The Thunder would win this game 106-95 after a defensive stand took Chicago out of the game late in the 4th. Rose would go on to be named the youngest MVP in the history of the league after leading the Bulls - who added 8 new players this season - to the best record in the league at 62-20, 4 games ahead of the 2nd place Miami Heat, who now featured LeBron James and Chris Bosh wirj Dwyane Wade. That Heat team would eventually defeat Chicago 4-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals. At 55-27, the Thunder had the 4th seed out West and made it all the way to the Conference Finals, but also lost 4-1, they to the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks (who had in turn swept the 2-time defending champion Lakers en route to the title). Neither Rose nor Westbrook have won a title yet. As of this season, Steph Curry has as many MVP awards as both of them combined. I think we all recognize how artificial the game had to become (via rule changes and selective enforcement) for that to have become a true statement. Hustle is not being rewarded like it used to be. _ Rose: 28pts (12-31) 4reb 6ast 1blk Westbrook: 28pts (8-15) 10reb 6ast 2stl 1blk KD: 30pts (9-24) 7reb 3ast 3stl _ #MVP #Rose #DRose #DerrickRose #Bulls #SeeRed #Chicago #chitown #Westbrook #Russ #Brodie #OKC #KD #Durant #Thunder #NBA #kyrie #stephcurry #cp3 #johnwall #pointguard