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Forward gets another double-double, steps up game early in season
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Thursday, Nov 13, 2008
INDEPENDENCE: Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao looked ready for his close-up Tuesday night in a 99-93 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
With LeBron James shouldering the brunt of the work as the Cavs came out looking flat, Varejao stepped up his game, as several of his teammates have done during the early weeks of the season.
Varejao hit 5-of-5 shots and 3-for-3 free-throw attempts for 13 points. He also pulled down 10 rebounds for his 16th career double-double. The Cavs are 14-2 when he has a double-double and are 35-14 when Varejao scores 10 points or more.
Coach Mike Brown said it succinctly after Tuesday's game: ''Andy gave us juice.''
Varejao, with his hair seemingly blowing in the wind tunnel that his body creates as he darts around the court, always seems to be giving the team energy, but it rarely shows up in the numbers the way it has in the past several games. In those games, he has averaged 14.7 points on 72 percent shooting and 7.3 rebounds.
Brown said Varejao is the beneficiary of the Cavs playing a smaller lineup at times, but said much of the credit is due to his active forward.
''The thing that Andy does is he busts his behind. He has worked on his game,'' he said. ''He is skilled and he's shown the ability to be able to score in traffic, too, at times.''
Varejao spent extra time working on his shot and working with teammate Zydrunas Ilgauskas during training camp and practice sessions.
''That is helping me a lot. Being in the league [11] years he knows what to do to improve, so I work with him,'' he said. ''I work more on my jump shot, but I also work more on my moves — facing up and things like that.''
In the past few games, Varejao has gotten most of the minutes during the second half. Brown cautioned against reading too much into that.
''Just that group, when we've gone small they've played well, so I left it. It's not necessarily a trend, it's happened the last couple of games,'' he said.
''I'll do that with anybody. If I think we have a group of players out on the floor that are playing well, then I'll leave them for a period.''
Varejao said the recent output is a result of his attitude and hard work.
''I'm just trying to be aggressive,'' Varejao said. ''I'm just trying to understand better about our offense, trying to be ready every time I catch the ball. I'm feeling really comfortable, playing pick-and-roll with LeBron now, which is really good for us.''
James on Billups trade
James said he believes the trade that sent Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess, who has since been waived, will ultimately benefit his friend Carmelo Anthony.
''Certain players need to be around certain people to help their game out. I think Chauncey is a complement as a player for Carmelo; he's going to make it a lot easier on him,'' he said.
Slowly, but surely
James crept to the top of the league's scoring list with three 41-point games. He's averaging 29.8 points, but don't look for him to try to go above 41 if he can help it.
''That's my lucky number these days. I'm going to stay right there,'' James said. ''When I was scoring 50, we were losing. I scored 50 two or three times and we lost all the games. When I scored 40 this year, we won all the games.''
All-Star ballot out
The NBA released the official ballot for the All-Star Game, which will be held in Phoenix. The most curious move? Forward Ben Wallace in the center category along with Ilgauskas. Voting at http://www.nba.com and wirelessly continues through Jan. 19.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net. Read the Cavs blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/cavs/.
INDEPENDENCE: Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao looked ready for his close-up Tuesday night in a 99-93 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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San Francisco, CA
Posted 07:34 PM, 11/13/2008
Very interesting, thank you
San Francisco, Ca
Posted 02:18 PM, 11/14/2008
This game is always exciting when LeBron James is playing.