Varejao goes 10-for-10 from the field and scores 23 points, and Daniel Gibson scores 15 in the fourth quarter to help the Cavs snap their three-game losing streak.
View full sizeForward Anderson Varejao, left, is not known as a scoring threat, but he was 10-for-10 with 23 points on Friday during the Cavaliers' victory at Philadelphia.PHILADELPHIA — Coach Byron Scott pulled Anderson Varejao aside shortly before the Cavaliers faced the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night at Wells Fargo Center.
"He told me right before the game: 'If you're open, shoot it. I saw you making those shots before,' " Varejao recalled. "So I said, 'OK,' and that's what I did."
Indeed. Varejao shot 10 field goals and made all 10, finishing with 23 points and 12 rebounds to help the Cavs rally to beat the Sixers, 123-116. The victory, the first on the road this season, snapped the Cavs' losing streak at three and helped them improve to 2-3.
But Varejao had lots of help as the Cavs prevailed after wasting a 19-point first-half lead.
Daniel Gibson scored 10 straight points at one point of the fourth quarter and had 15 of his 22 points in the final period.
"It was a lot of fun out there," Gibson said. "We just gutted that one out. I wanted to be assertive and lead."
Mo Williams, making his first start after missing time with a groin injury and to attend the funeral of his father-in-law, also had 22 points, and he added seven assists.
Williams fed Varejao for a monster reverse dunk to cap a 15-5 run that got the Cavs back in control, perfectly executing a play Scott drew up in the huddle to take advantage of the way the Sixers were playing the pick-and-roll.
"That dunk he made was unbelievable," Gibson said of Varejao. "I didn't think he was going to reach it."
But he didn't miss a thing on Friday night.
View full sizeCavaliers guard Daniel Gibson (1) came up big in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 of his 22 points.According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Varejao was the 27th player to be perfect from the floor with at least 10 field-goal attempts since the start of the 1986-87 season. He was the first since Darren Collison went 10-for-10 for New Orleans against Portland on March 27, 2010. He was the first Cav to do it since his good friend Zydrunas Ilgauskas went 10-for-10 on Jan. 23, 2008, against Washington.
It was also the second 20-10 game of Varejao's career. The other came on Dec. 11, 2009, against Portland when he had 22 points and 10 rebounds.
"Obviously, we had some guys play really big," Scott said. "Andy was fantastic. Boobie [getting 15] points in the fourth quarter was great, and when Mo came back in the game in the fourth quarter, I thought he did a hell of a job directing us on the offensive end."
Of course, the fact that the Cavs had to hang on after running off to a 50-31 lead in the second quarter was a bit problematic.
"Throughout my career, every time I've coached a team that gets off to a fast start, it scares me to death," Scott said. "All of a sudden, you start to relax. You get a little lackadaisical at times. I didn't know if we could keep up that pace, and we couldn't."
The Sixers took their first lead at 72-71 on a 3-pointer by Andres Nocioni with 5:48 left in the third quarter, and Scott called a timeout.
"As soon we came into the huddle, I said: 'Not this time. It's not going to happen this time. They made their run. Congrats. But right now it's time for us to make ours,' " Gibson said. "It took us a little while, but we did it."
With Varejao making all four of his shots in the fourth, the Cavs made 13-of-17 (76.5 percent) and outscored the Sixers, 44-32. They also owned an 11-6 edge on the boards that quarter. They needed all of that to erase the Sixers' 89-81 lead.
"That's a great win for our team," Scott said. "At 89-81, we could have folded, especially on the road. I thought we showed great character. I don't know if we had to get it with 70-plus games left to go.
"But was it an important win? Yeah. It was an important game for us."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mschmitt@plaind.com, 216-999-4668
