LeBron Hangs 48 On Hawks, But Varejao is Hero of Exciting Win

The Cavaliers completed a two-game, home-and-home sweep of the Atlanta Hawks tonight, in dramatic fashion.

In the game Tuesday night in Atlanta, the Cavalier started off slow, getting the lead in the second quarter, and then led pretty much the rest of the way, with a solid defensive and complete team effort. All starters, except for JJ Hickson, scored in double figures, plus the key bench players (Delonte West and Zydrunas Ilgauskas) also had excellent games. LeBron James only scored 14 points, but the Cavaliers still rolled to a nice road win with some inspired play by Ilgauskas, Mo Williams and West.

Tonight, as the Cavaliers returned home to face the Hawks again, it was a completely different story. The Hawks took what they learned the previous night and seemed primed to split the two-game series as they started off hot and led by as many as 17 points in the second half. After being held to just over 40% shooting by the Cavs defense on Tuesday night, the Hawks used quick shots….many off the pick-and-roll……to keep the Cavs defense at bay and were shooting 57% at the half. The Cavs focused on getting stops in the second half, led by some inspired play by Anderson Varejao, who also helped the Cavs cause with some second chance points with aggressive play on the offensive boards. With most of his teammates not nearly as effective as they were the previous night, LeBron James seemed to realize that this would be one of those nights where he would have to be the aggressor and provide most of the team’s offense. He was aggressive toward the basket as well, which led to 16 free throw attempts…..the same amount the entire Hawks team had for the night. The Hawks rotated a number of players on James, which seemed to be a good ploy because in spite of the large number of fouls, no Hawk player was ever in serious foul trouble. The Cavs as a team went to the line 38 times as a result of the Hawks aggressive play. James led the Cavs with 48 points for the game. The only other Cavaliers in double figures until midway through the 4th quarter was Mo Williams.

The real story of the game though was the inspired play of Varejao. He had some key blocks in crunch time and with only 17 seconds left, and the Hawks tying the game at 101-101, Varejao got the ball outside the three-point line with the shot clock only a few seconds from expiring. With a Hawk in front of him and no time for anything else, Varejao had no choice but to fire a shot. As it left his hands, you could almost hear a collective gasp among the crowd. For all of his aggressive play, fans are more used to Varejao being left open by opposing defenses when this far from the basket, and Varejao still looking no more ready to shoot than Tiger Woods is ready to pass up a strip joint. With the shot clock about to expire, Andy had no choice but to turn and fire. The shot was true and as it hit nothing but net and fell through the hoop, the crowd erupted, the Cavs bench went nuts, and Varejao ran down the court into the happy open arms of LeBron. For Andy, it was the first three-pointer of his career. The Cavs now led by three and after the Hawks Mike Bibby missed his game-tying three-point attempt, and the Cavs ended up with a thrilling 106-101 win.

For much of the night, the atmosphere inside The Q was as tepid as the Cavaliers play on defense in the first half. However, as the game wore on, and particularly as the Cavs fought back, it was obvious that this would be an exciting finish. The fans were loud and it felt like a playoff game in the building. The Cavaliers responded to the energy and contributed plenty of their own, and everyone left the final Cavs game of 2009 in a great mood….except of course, the Atlanta Hawks.

Tags: Anderson Varejao, LeBron James