One of the few Cavaliers to actually play well in Monday night’s disastrous loss against the Boston Celtics was forward Anderson Varejao. Varejao has been quiet over the course of this year’s playoffs, but was beginning to look like himself on Monday night. He was getting to the rim using cuts, grabbing loose balls, and playing good defense on the Boston bigs. Varejao played 21 minutes, and was the only Cavalier to finish with a positive +/-.
Naturally, Varejao ended up having to leave the game with back spasms. According Brian Windhorst’s twitter account, Varejao is currently listed as day-to-day. With Shaquille O’Neal playing terribly, Antawn Jamison getting abused by Garnett on the defensive end, Ilgauskas not playing, and J.J. Hickson’s inexperience and defensive ineptitude, the Cavaliers will have a hard time winning a game in Boston without a healthy Varejao.
In other Cavalier news, LeBron James will have another MRI on basketball’s best-known elbow before Friday’s game three, and an irate Mike Brown had the Cavaliers practice today instead of giving them the day off.