In a head-to-head showdown of 2011 top ten picks, #1 Kyrie Irving (9-for-16, 25 points, 7 assists) thoroughly emasculated #9 Kemba Walker (6-for-21, 14 points, 4 assists) on Monday, as the Cavaliers turned around a 14-point third quarter deficit to beat down the Charlotte Bobcats, 102-94.
Appearing in the twelfth game of his pro career, Irving has already officially surpassed the total number of games he played collegiately at Duke, where a Sweet Sixteen loss to Arizona last March robbed the Blue Devils of a showdown with eventual National Champions Kemba Walker and UConn. Now, in an MLK Day matinee in Charlotte, it was time to prove that-- while all men are created equal— the same cannot necessarily be said of rookie point guards.
“I got a message for all you fans who thought the Cavs would be better off drafting Derrick Williams and Kemba Walker,” Irving didn’t actually say after the game. “Bow down, fools! Kneel! Grovel before your new basketball lord!"
For the Bobcats (3-11), this was the second game of coach Paul Silas’ new little-man backcourt experiment, inserting the 6’1” Walker into the starting line-up alongside 6’0” leading scorer D.J. Augustin. The pairing had worked out quite nicely on Saturday in a 112-100 win over Golden State, but the Cavs (6-6)—who already own a win over Charlotte earlier this year in Cleveland—seemed up to the challenge early. Paced by 7 points from Irving and 9 from Antawn Jamison, Cleveland led by a 30-23 count after one quarter. The next twelve minutes, however, would prove considerably less friendly.