Playing their fourth game in five nights, minus a veteran and valuable bench player, Cleveland fell to the Suns, 91-78, in front of a sparse 13,687 at The Q. The Cavaliers were so out of sync and the game so out of reach from the beginning that coach Byron Scott issued a stinging assessment afterward.
“Andy Varejao was fantastic,” Scott said. “Everybody else sucked tonight.”
Fairly succinct and accurate, it turns out. Varejao recorded 20 points and 15 rebounds, his sixth consecutive double-double and sixth straight logging at least 15 rebounds. He dominated in the third quarter, when he logged 14 of his points and helped the Cavaliers knot the game at 57.
A Dion Waiters layup gave the Cavaliers a 59-57 edge with 3:28 left in the third. However, the Suns scored 14 straight points to end that quarter with a cushion that lasted the remainder of the game. The Cavaliers dropped their fourth straight, their 10th game in their last 11, in falling to 3-12. Phoenix improved to 7-8.
The Cavaliers were without shooting guard Daniel Gibson, a late scratch because of a sore right elbow that has plagued him since Nov. 18. Gibson, who missed his third game in the last six because of the injury, will have an MRI on Wednesday to assess the injury.
Without Gibson, the bench shortened to eight meaningful players, and no veteran guard to lead the reserves. Gibson is averaging 9.1 points on 43-percent shooting.
“Boobie’s one of our best perimeter defenders, he’s been our best guy off the bench for the past couple weeks, as well,” Scott said. “Those are things that you count on. It hurts.”
To make matters worse, Waiters banged his left hand against the rim late in the second quarter. Although X-rays were negative, Waiters will undergo an MRI as well.
Varejao, for his part, tried to will his team to victory. Shortly after Scott called him the “best center in the NBA,” the energetic frontcourt player did his best to prove it, hitting 10 of 15 shots to go along with his typical relentless rebounding. Only one other Cavalier has recorded six consecutive double-doubles (Jim Chones, 1978).
Without Varejao’s shooting, the rest of the Cavaliers shot just 29 percent.
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