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Varejao, Cavs go wild in win over Mavericks 95 - 111
Nov 28, 2009
On a night when Cleveland needed a lift in the frontcourt, Anderson Varejao went wild. And that, folks, is why they call the man the Wild Thing. How good was Varejao in Cleveland's 111-95 win over visiting Dallas on Saturday night? Good enough to grab not one, not two, but three offensive rebounds on one critical possession in the third quarter. Good enough to finish with 15 points, nine boards and countless floor burns. And good enough to help Cavaliers fans forget that longtime center Zydrunas Ilgauskas was supposed to be the story of the day. That's right, in a game in which Ilgauskas was expected to set the franchise record for total games played, he never got off the bench. As it stands, Ilgauskas remains tied with current Cavs GM Danny Ferry at 723 games played in a Cavs uniform. The reason Ilgauskas didn't play? Matchups, according to Cavs coach Mike Brown. Either way, it hardly mattered as Varejao was his typical underrated self. Namely, he was all arms and legs and energy -- not to mention a discombobulated mess after receiving a pass. Yet somehow the wild one managed to make all seven of his unorthodox field-goal attempts against one of the best teams in all the West.
Perhaps more than anything, Varejao proved it's not always about the stars. Ilgauskas didn't play and Shaquille O'Neal (nine points, six rebounds) didn't have it. And when it came to catching a pass, up-and-coming forward J.J. Hickson simply couldn't grab it. So Varejao got his chance and simply ran with it. "I just tried to be aggressive and go to the basket, and run the pick-and-roll with LeBron (James) and Mo (Williams)," Varejao said. "This is why we're a good team. We have huge stars and good players coming off the bench." That's not to say the Cavs' huge star were anything less than stellar. James connected on 10 of 20 shots for 25 points, and passed for a season-high 12 assists. Many of the latter ended up in the hands of a wide-open Varejao underneath the hoop. Then there's Williams, who had the type of night that would bring a smile to the face of former Cavs sharpshooter Mark Price. All Williams did was make all seven of his 3-pointers, finishing 9-for-12 shooting overall, to tie James with a team-high 25 points. "Mo is a steady player, you know what you're going to get," said Cavs coach Mike Brown. "He's been shooting the lights out of the ball, but he's also done a nice job of making plays for others. He's been big for us these last few weeks." That's not all.
Reserve forward Jamario Moon (13 points, 5-for-8 shooting) and guard Delonte West (10 points, 4-for-7) also lit it up on a night the Cavs buried a sizzling 57 percent of their field goals and scored 68 points by halftime. West, whose status has been iffy because of a well-documented mood disorder, also played some terrific defense and ran the team to near-perfection, finishing with a season-high 10 assists and without a single turnover. Meanwhile, the Mavericks were never really in this game -- but they were never entirely out of it, either. They were coming off a road win over Indiana the previous night, and while they didn't appear overly exhausted, they didn't receive any sort of consistency from anyone outside of usual super man Dirk Nowitzki and super sub Jason Terry. Nowitzki ended up with 27 points and seven rebounds; Terry 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting (including 4-of-7 on threes). But defensively, the Mavs were clearly out of sorts.
"In the first half, we got caught watching the ball too many times," said Mavs coach Rick Carlisle. "It was probably as poor of a defensive half as we've played all year. You can't do that against a team that is this good on their home court. It made things very difficult." Added Terry, "They were a step quicker. They moved the ball well and found their shooters in rhythm, ready to shoot the ball. We didn't do anything to divert what they were doing." Worse, the Mavs tied an all-time franchise low by compiling a measly 24 rebounds (compared to 39 for the Cavs). This after winning the first two games of a three-game trip. "Giving up 60 percent shooting on the last game of a trip leaves a sour taste in your mouth," Carlisle said. "I loved the way we played in Houston and Indiana, but this was a stinker." The Cavs and Mavs are each 12-5.