Early energy for 48 minutes. That's what it said in blue dry erase marker ink on the Cavaliers white board prior to tip-off with the defending World Champions last night. All of the other offensive sets, game notes, and match-ups were written in black.

Coming off a series of games where the Cavaliers waited until the fourth quarter to wake up and play with the energy needed to beat a quality NBA opponent, this would be critical to having even a chance against Dirk and the visiting Dallas Mavericks. Thus the blue ink. A message that Anderson Varejao not only received, but basically smacked each one of his Cavs teammates in the head with by way of two thunderous dunks to open the game.  

After the second one, which made it 4-0 Cavs, he looked over at his team's bench pumping his Wild Thing arms, and Quicken Loans Arena went crazy. He finished the game with 17 points and 17 rebounds, a Kevin Love-type statline that's becoming routine for Andy over the last few weeks, and after the game I asked him about that start.

 

He was right in that the game wasn't won there, but it did go a long way to helping his Cavs hang around in the first half. They went into the locker room down 8 (51-43), kinda looked like maybe it could get out of hand from there, but the Cavaliers then responded with their best third quarter of the season. Collectively.

The Cavaliers made their usual surge during the fourth quarter last night, which is probably more encouraging than it is frustrating, and can't be completely dismissed even in an eight point loss (102-94). Last year they used fourth quarters following a 29% shooting from the field for three periods performance, like Friday in Orlando, to really get blown out by a team like the Magic. Last night, despite their struggles offensively highlighted by both those shooting woes and eight Dwight Howard blocked shots, they didn't quit and put a little run together late. It was actually too late though, unfortunately.

Ramon Sessions rallied the troops some, finished with a team-high plus / minus of +16 in about 27 minutes, and Alonzo Gee finished up a 20-point, 5-rebound for the game performance with some emphasis down the stretch as well. After digging too much of a hole though, and not playing the way they did or do in the fourth for the three quarters preceding, the Cavaliers ended up losing by eight even though they improved that field goal percentage as a team by 8 for the game overall (37%) in that final period.

Only Jason Richardson (+19) finished with a plus / minus as good or better than Ramon Sessions last night, which is kinda crazy if you think about how much the Cavs were losing by and eventually lost by. His 19 points in 28 minutes were as many as his teammate Howard ended up scoring, to go with those 8 blocks and 16 rebounds hauled in by the big man who wants to be traded. The Cavs went to the Hack-a-Howard late, and I really don't like the Hack-a-Howard at all - especially when Mark Jackson spent Golden State's fourth or fifth game of the season doing it all night - but it was relatively effective in just that last quarter for the Cavs kinda. They had no other option really, but Howard did split those last 14 FT's and that would be more than enough for the win.

When this season started, I said that I did not believe it would end with Anderson Varejao playing for the Cavaliers. The reasons I thought so were because it is in the Cavaliers best interest to acquire first round draft picks, and that a number of teams would be willing to include such picks in a trade package for Andy. I also didn't think, at the time, that any other veteran on this Cavs team could be traded for a first round pick this season either. But it is starting to seem like maybe Ramon Sessions can be. If he eventually is, I'm to the point with Anderson's All Star performance this season, that I wouldn't see any reason to move Varejao at all then if that first rounder can be acquired through a Sessions deal.  


It's obviously not a sure thing that a team will eventually trade a first round pick for Ramon, but there has been a lot of talk about that lately. This week began with Adrian Wojnarowski's report about the Lakers interest in Sessions, and while Woj didn't specifically say that the Lakers were willing to give up a first round pick in exchange, he did indicate that such compensation would be Cleveland's asking price for their back-up PG. The Los Angeles Times since reiterated the Lakers interest in Sessions, as well as that first round pick the Cavs would be looking for, but stopped short of saying LA should trade a pick like that to Cleveland for him. Then today, the New York Post said that the Knicks are also interested in Sessions, and that the Cavaliers would be looking for either a draft pick, cash, or a young player at another position in return.

That Post report went on to note that the first round pick the Knicks could trade isn't until 2016 though. While I'd be looking for a 2012 first rounder specifically if I were Chris Grant, and definitely not interested in cash or either of the two players NY was talking about, that 2016 pick - while four years later than what Cleveland needs right now - is still a first round pick. The Lakers, meanwhile, currently hold a top-20 protected pick in 2012 they received from Dallas, in exchange for Odom, as well as their own. They're sitting with the 8th best record in the West right now, at 13-9, and if I had to guess they'll finish this season with anywhere from the 21st to the 25th pick in the first round come June. I'd also bet, at this point at least, that Dallas will eventually finish out of the lower 20, and LA will end up with two 2012 draft picks at about the same spot; call it the 22nd and 24th pick overall this summer, or something like that.

There is the Dwight Howard issue, and maybe LA holds onto those picks for him, but their PG position is horrible right now. If Mike Brown doesn't want to maybe get run out of town in year one, he might need to really push for the "get better immediately type move" that Sessions would afford him. As opposed to waiting to find out whether Dwight is cool with living out the rest of his NBA life as Shaquille O'Neal 2.0 or not. The Knicks could also get pretty desperate if Baron Davis doesn't actually come back reincarnated as a young Oscar Robertson and save the franchise from the humiliation of their continued awfulness single handedly too. In that case, it's possible they bring a third team in and somehow exchange that 2016 first rounder for the same type of pick next year in a three-way deal with the Cavs for Sessions. Theoretically, maybe, possibly.

The first four points of Cavaliers rookie guard Mychel Thompson's NBA career couldn't have come at a better time. Those first two jumpers he hit proved critical to a 4th quarter comeback win on the road Sunday, capped off by the last second heroics of Kyrie Irving, in what became the Cavs most exciting finish of the season so far. During that one-point win over the Celtics, Thompson finished with a team high plus / minus of +9 for the game as well, and an effort worthy of earning his first NBA start ever on Tuesday in relief of the injured Anthony Parker and Daniel Gibson.

In that 93-90 home loss to the Celtics, Thompson connected of 2 of his 4 three point attempts for the night, scored 8, and dished out 4 assists to go along with, 1 rebound, 1 steal, and 1 massive rejection of a Mickael Pietrus jumper in 31 minutes of work. I caught up with Thompson for a minute afterwards to talk about what it felt like making his first start in the NBA, and our exchange is below:



Your first NBA start ever and you're matched-up with Jesus Shuttlesworth, aka the greatest shooter in NBA history, with Paul Pierce flanked on his other wing and Kevin Garnett patrolling the paint. No pressure. Despite that though, and all those butterflies associated with the realization that you are actually in the process of living out a lifelong dream that millions of kids have but never accomplish, I thought Thompson held his own out there to be sure. He didn't look nervous at all, played pretty solid, and probably earned himself a spot in the rotation for the next few games at least too.

Mychel's younger brother Klay, Golden State Warriors rookie by way of the 11th overall pick, is averaging 7 ppg on 42% shooting from 3-pt range in 17 minutes per night this season in his own right as well. Pretty successful family. But while Klay has played in 19 NBA games so far, as opposed to the 3 Cleveland's Thompson has appeared in for the Cavs, they're both now tied in the NBA starts category.

So congrats on that start last night Mychel, when I was twenty-three I was not doing things as cool as that with my Tuesday nights.

Anderson Varejao played like an Eastern Conference All Star again on Tuesday night. He opened the game by scoring 10 points in his first ten minutes on the floor, finished with career highs of 10 offensive rebounds to go with a career mark of 20 total boards, and chased all that with 20 points of his own as well. If you insist on a statistical argument to validate Varejao's worth as a player, use those. Beyond that, which makes stats lines the 20/20 he posted that some guys get by taking plays off on the defensive end even more impressive, he tirelessly defended the Boston frontline essentially by himself for 42 minutes too. Varejao, alone, out-rebounded the starting frontline of the C's collectively - Pierce (4 rebs), Garnett (4 rebs), Jermaine O'Neal (3 rebs) - by nine. Throw Boston's top big off the bench into that mix too, Brandon Bass (6 rebs), and you can also say that Andy out-rebounded all four of those guys by three. Because he did.


Varejao left everything on the floor on Tuesday night, and utilized every ounce of his NBA effort to will his team to a victory they finished three points away from stealing. After the game Byron Scott echoed the Andy is an All Star sentiment, by offering the following on his 20/20 performance: “I don’t know what to tell you. I already said it last week-he’s playing like an all-star. I don’t know what else to say.” There isn't really too much else to say on the topic, actually. Despite that though, Doc Rivers weighed in anyways: “Varejao’s energy is just amazing. It’s amazing to watch him run around relentlessly, and pursue (loose) balls…Varejao’s always an All-Star as far as I’m concerned. I think they should keep a spot for a role player. That’s what he does, he plays his role…He had 20 points and they didn’t run one (offensive) set for him…Down the stretch, he and Kyrie (Irving) were tough for us to handle.”

Below is video of Andy talking about that effort and his young PG post-game; for the first time all night he did appear tired:



Andy might not actually have any go-to type scoring moves, well actually he doesn't, but he does find ways to not only secure those loose balls he has no business securing, but he also finds ways to score anyways too. His energy is amazing, and he played relentlessly all night again on Tuesday. If his teammates played with something close to that same energy during that stretch where they let the Boston lead extend to twenty-two late in the third quarter, than maybe they'd have been making that final surge from down a more reasonable of 14 or 15 points. Or maybe it would've never even gotten that far away. It did though, and the Cavaliers did rally late, they kept fighting down the stretch, and those are the type of things a young team can and is learning by playing alongside an All Star like Varejao. It's good to see, and it's tangible progress for this group too I think.

With Boston in town for game two of this home and away series with the Celtics tonight, the talk following Kyrie Irving's heroics on Sunday revolved around specifically that on Tuesday after shoot-around. Or at least that, along with Christian Eyenga being categorized as a "might play" tonight with Anthony Parker and Daniel Gibson banged up, was basically all I was interested in as I stood there listening.

Following Sunday's game, I thought it was particularly cool that Byron instructed Kyrie Irving to take that last shot with seven seconds to go. It's was a gutsy call that Kyrie made look easy. There were 22 seconds to work with, the Cavs could've taken the best shot available and then played the free throw game from there, but they didn't.

They went for the win on the road, they got just that, and in the video below Byron talks about telling Kyrie to "go at seven":





As he mentioned, some assistant coaches thought maybe that was a tad aggresive. But "Kyrie Irving's a closer" people, something that "every team needs", as Byron went on to say on Tuesday as well:





Cavs tip tonight at 7pm against the visiting Celtics, and Rajon Rondo is expected to miss Tuesday's game too. Byron also said that he expects Boston to come out "pissed" that his Cavs team, in their view, "stole that game" from them on Sunday, and I expect he's right. Kevin Garnett, for one, will probably be even madder than usual so watch out for him trying to turn this thing into a bar-fight somehow.

Kyrie Irving was playing in his 19th NBA game ever last night when he went and did this to give his Cavaliers the 88-87 win over the Boston Celtics: 



LeBron James hit his first ever game winning shot in the 227th game of his career. The jumper he connected on came with 0.9 seconds left in an overtime match-up with Charlotte, launched 21-feet away from the basket. It was the 68th game of his third NBA season. 

Kobe Bryant's first game winner came in the 214th NBA game that he played, when he connected on two game winning free throws with 8.6 seconds left to beat the Dallas Mavericks 108-106.

Of the these three, only Micheal Jordan's first game winner also came during his rookie season. In only his eighth NBA game, Jordan hit a 12-foot jumper with four seconds left to beat the Indiana Pacers 118-116.

When Jordan hit his first game winning NBA shot, he was 21-years old. The same age that both Kobe and LeBron were when they first did what Kyrie Irving did last night, at the age of 19.

With one minute to go in the first half on Sunday, as the TD Garden's "Noise Meter" urged Boston's faithful to their feet, Kyrie Irving calmly fired a laser from the top of the key through the Celtics defense. That pass found Anderson Varjeao standing wide open underneath the rim, who then regained a one point lead for his Cavaliers, 42-41. After an ensuing basket by the angriest rich man in the history of professional sports, Varjeao came back down and deposited two more from seven feet out. The Cavs took a 44-43 lead into the locker room at intermission as a result, and they'd come back out to play Boston to the most spectacular draw we've seen in Kyrie Irving's young career over the next twenty-four minutes.


Twenty-three minutes and thirty-eight seconds of game action later, Kyrie Irving patiently stood just above the top of the key. He wasn't pounding the basketball into the hardwood beneath him with the nerves of jack-hammer, nor did he hope for a teammate to soon break free for a pass in the corner. He stood there planning to win the basketball game for his Cavaliers. He stood there embracing the opportunity to take his best shot on his team's last offensive possession. With seven seconds to go he attacked the basket, with three seconds left he let it fly, and with only two seconds remaining he had connected on the first game winner of his nineteen game NBA career. 

Not to be lost in the heroics, is just how Kyrie Irving came to have that final opportunity for his game winning shot. As the Cavaliers preceding field goal attempt rimmed off with about 26 seconds to play, it did so with no reason or intention of landing in the hands of Anderson Varejao. If you rewind that play, seconds before the last of Anderson Varjeao's nine rebounds for the game, you almost don't even think he's in the play. Before he launches his body specifically into it that is, and claws his way to possession of a basketball he had no business securing. Until he did, called timeout, and put Kyrie Irving on center stage. Most players in the NBA don't want it that bad, but Anderson Varejao isn't most players in the NBA.

Nor would most coaches wind down the last twenty-two seconds of the game clock, trailing by one, and instruct their 19-year old rookie to begin his attack of the basket with seven seconds left. Man's game, Byron, nice call. Scott believed that Kyrie Irving can finish at the rim as good as anybody in the NBA, right now, and he was proved correct in that assessment on Sunday in Boston. With Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and the ghosts of Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Larry Bird all packed into the paint trying to stop Kyrie Irving, nobody could. Kyrie was simply better than everybody else. Only a few weeks after missing his first game winner that just about went down in Indiana, the kid cashed this one in because his Coach went right back too him. And his team rolled out of Boston with an 88-87 win they never should've gotten.

Prior to the Cavaliers 99-96 loss to the New Jersey Nets on Friday night, I caught up with former Cavaliers Head Coach and current living legend Mike Fratello. I asked the Coach of the Ukraine National Team and Czar of The Telestrators what his opinions were of Kyrie Irving so far this season, as well as what other players he'd compare Kyrie's game too. 

That conversation is below: 





StepienRules: Based on what you've seen so far, can you just offer your opinions on Kyrie Irving and his play so far?

Mike Fratello: I think they're [Cavaliers Organization] very happy that they selected the young man. You try to do your homework, and do your research, but you never know until you actually get him there. And here he is, and they've seen the kind of talent that he has, he seems to be a very mature person for his age, and he has a very, very bright future. So Cleveland has one piece that they can move forward with now, use that as a cornerstone, and hopefully add other pieces around him.

StepienRules: Over the years, who would you compare his game too as far as other Point Guards?

Mike Fratello: Kapper, Kapper, his game is like Kapper's game, you and Kyrie. 

StepienRules: Oh, okay, that would be Tim over here with Nets radio?

Tim With Nets Radio aka Kapper: My game is very solid.

Mike Fratello: You know, I don't know who I would compare him to really. I think it's better if we let him get his own identity, and down the road let somebody say his game is like Kyrie Irving's. Because, what do you want to say, want to say he's a Chris Paul type guard? I don't know that yet. I'd like to see this kid get his own way, develop his own reputation, and then let people try to be like him.

If Anderson Varejao was ever going to be invited to the NBA All Star Game, that time is right now. This season. The best player on his team is a 19-year old rookie, his organization is in the beginning stages of the ultimate NBA rebuild, and despite that he's taking the floor every single night and playing like an NBA Title is hanging in the balance. Beyond all that, statistically, he's also right there with each and every other Center in the Eastern Conference not named Dwight Howard.


Throughout Anderson's career he's been somewhat dismissed as being simply a "nice piece" for a contending team. Which is basically because for all those years that's what his contending team needed him to be. But while he was that, and is still capable of being that if needed, he is also demonstrating right now that he can be more than simply that too. Anderson's game is not completely designed to only fit-in, and only compliment a collection of stars around him. His basketball IQ is high, he believes in teamwork, and if that's the way he best helps his team he'll gladly fill that role. But he can also lead from the front too, he's a competitor, and if I was to wake up one morning as a coach who needed to win one game later on that night or I'd surely get fired, say I woke up tomorrow as Mike D'Antoni, Dwight Howard is the only Center in the Eastern Conference I'd rather have on my team than Anderson Varejao right now. The only one.

Over at Waiting For Next Year, Scott has been pointing out the All Star qualities of Anderson Varjeao for a while now, and I agree with him. He mentioned yesterday at WFNY that Anderson is second in the Eastern Conference in rebounds per game (11.2), total rebounding percentage (21.0), and also has a lead in terms of total offensive rebounds and offensive rebounding percentage (16.6) right now too. So enter his points into my Andy Is An All Star Arguement here, and allow me to then add the following: Anderson Varejao is averaging more rebounds per game than any Eastern Conference Center not named Dwight Howard, he's averaging more steals than any of them as well, has a better PER number than Joakim Noah, and is scoring only eight tenths of a point per game less than Tyson Chandler too.

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