The Cleveland Cavaliers were dominated by the Bulls in the rivalry, even with likes of
Mark Price,
Steve Kerr,
Ron Harper and others playing the franchise, Jordan was too much to handle and adding
Scottie Pippen made it even more difficult on the Cavaliers, but Jordan would eventually retire and Pippen was traded to the
Houston Rockets. Cleveland would have the first pick in the
2003 NBA draft and used that selection to pick
LeBron James. The Cavaliers would take over the rivalry with LeBron, Chicago would pick a hometown player with the first pick as well in
Derrick Rose. However, Rose had an injury in the playoffs against Philadelphia that would deter Rose's promising career that won him the MVP in
2011. Both teams met up in the first round in 2010, and Cleveland won their first ever series against Chicago, . They would play again in 2015 which Cleveland won again, .
Bulls' resurgence in 2011. In the summer of 2010, Cavaliers superstar LeBron James became a free agent, and announced on
ESPN that he would
join the
Miami Heat, to join
Chris Bosh and
Dwyane Wade.
Cleveland's first season without James was an awful year, finishing with a record of . Meanwhile, the
Bulls finished and earned the first seed in the
Eastern Conference playoffs; Derrick Rose would win the
NBA MVP. However, the Bulls lost in the
Eastern Conference finals against the
Miami Heat, who would lose in the
NBA Finals against the
Dallas Mavericks. Cleveland would draft
Duke point guard
Kyrie Irving with the first pick and
Texas center
Tristan Thompson with the fourth pick in the
2011 NBA draft. Irving would win the Rookie of the Year Award. However, the Cavaliers' best season without James was when they finished in
2013–14.
Return of LeBron James, 2015 semifinals rematch On July 11, 2014, James announced his return to Cleveland in a letter published to
Sports Illustrated. The Cavaliers would select
Andrew Wiggins in
2014 first overall, who they would trade along with
Anthony Bennett to the
Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for
Kevin Love. Both the Bulls and Cavaliers would qualify to play in the
playoffs. The
Cavaliers earned the Eastern Conference's second seed, and the
Bulls earned the third seed. The teams would play each other in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Chicago won game 1 with Derrick Rose scoring 25 points. Cleveland won game 2 with James scoring 33 points. Chicago won game 3, as Derrick Rose made a shot as time expired. Cleveland won game 4, as James also made a shot as time expired. The Cavaliers would also win games 5 and 6 to eliminate the Bulls, and advanced to play in the
2015 NBA Finals, where they would lose to the
Golden State Warriors in 6 games. The Cavaliers played Golden State in the
NBA Finals again the
next year and came back from a series deficit to end the
52-year championship drought in Cleveland. == LeBron leaves again, both teams start rebuilds ==