Suns-Cavaliers Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Nov 27 2012 12:32AM

The Phoenix Suns just came up short after making a late run.

That wasn't the case earlier this month against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Phoenix will try to avoid its worst road start in a decade on Tuesday night when the Cavaliers look to bounce back from an 0-3 trip.

The Suns (6-8) briefly took the lead after trailing by 10 late in the third quarter on Sunday, but they fell 104-101 to Philadelphia to begin their season-high six-game trip.

Phoenix is yielding a league-worst 103.3 points per game, and its opponents are 22 for 45 from 3-point range over the last two contests.

"I thought we did a great job down the stretch, but if you go back in the game, you'll see we had plays where we just didn't execute defensively," coach Alvin Gentry told the Suns' official website. "The effort is great and we continue to compete, but we have to be able to make the plays that win games for you."

Phoenix hasn't done much of that outside the desert this season, dropping five of six to equal its worst road start since opening 1-7 in 2002-03. The Suns, though, have a chance to sweep this season series after overcoming a 26-point third-quarter deficit in a 107-105 victory on Nov. 9.

Shannon Brown, a former Cavs first-round pick, led that surge with 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter

"Definitely (Cleveland will have that game in mind). Any time you lose to a team you want to get revenge," Suns swingman Jared Dudley said. "... We know Kyrie Irving is gone (with a broken left index finger). We've got to put pressure on their guards. Any time we can get (rookie Dion) Waiters to slow down and keep (Anderson) Varejao off the boards, we have a good chance."

Waiters and Varejao paced the Cavs (3-11) with 15 points on Monday, and Varejao added 22 rebounds to lift his league-leading average to 14.7, but that wasn't enough in an 84-78 loss to league-best Memphis.

Cleveland was outscored 22-9 in the final 12 minutes after leading by at least eight points in the first two games of its trip.

"Sooner or later being in this situation this many times, we will find a way to break through it," coach Byron Scott said.

The Cavaliers, who have played a league-low four home games, will go for their first set of back-to-back wins at Quicken Loans Arena since Feb. 19 and 21. If Cleveland can match that, it will send the Suns to their first four-game road skid since Feb. 13-March 7.

Phoenix won its second straight in Cleveland on March 25, 108-83.

Markieff Morris, who scored a then-career-high 22 points for the Suns in that contest, is expected to make his fourth consecutive start in place of Dudley. Morris is averaging team highs of 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds since Gentry made that switch.

Morris, though, missed all nine of his shots and finished with four points and seven boards on Nov. 9.

Point guard Goran Dragic led the Suns with a season-best 26 points in that matchup, but like Dudley, he's expecting a more complete effort from the Cavaliers this time.

"They're a really competitive team," Dragic said. "They have a lot of young guys. They're playing at home right now, so we're gonna have to be focused from the beginning of the game and try to finish that game strong."

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Dragic, Beasley leads Suns past Cavaliers 91-78

Posted Nov 27 2012 10:54PM

CLEVELAND (AP) Alvin Gentry and Byron Scott watched the same game Tuesday night, but the two coaches had vastly different reactions to what they saw.

Goran Dragic scored 19 points, Michael Beasley added 15 and the Phoenix Suns took control late in the third quarter to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 91-78 Tuesday night.

Gentry was all smiles after his team scored the final 14 points of the third en route to winning for just the second time in seven road games this season.

"We wanted to push the tempo a little bit," he said. "Once we finally got our energy up in the third quarter, we did that, and I thought we did a great job of finding the mismatches."

It's not surprising that Scott, whose team has lost 10 of its last 11 games, had a different point of view.

"I'll make just a real quick statement - Andy Varejao was fantastic," he said. "Everybody else stunk tonight. Anything else you need to know?"

Phoenix's big run resulted in a 71-59 lead it would not relinquish. The Suns' spurt reached 34-11 at one point and a 91-70 lead late in the game.

Cleveland went ahead 59-57 with 3:28 left in the third quarter on Waiters' layup, but the Suns, playing their second game on a six-city trip, took over. Four points each by Beasley, Jared Dudley and Luis Scola, and a basket by Jermaine O'Neal accounted for the run.

Scola scored 14 points, while Dudley added 11 for Phoenix.

"We're not Oklahoma City," Dudley said. "We're not the best team in the West, but we can play better and we can come home above .500."

Varejao had 20 points and 18 rebounds for his sixth straight double-double. He's averaging 14.7 points and 17.7 rebounds during the stretch. Varejao leads the NBA in rebounding with a 14.9 average.

"To me right now he's the best center in the NBA," Scott said. "By far the best in the Eastern Conference. Coaches and players are starting to recognize how well he's playing."

"The way Anderson is rebounding the ball right now, the only comparison you can make is to Dennis Rodman," Gentry said.

Cleveland played its fifth straight game without star point guard Kyrie Irving, who is out until mid-December with a broken left index finger, but Cleveland's injury situation may be taking another hit. Guard Dion Waiters, selected with the No. 4 pick in the draft, bruised his left hand in the second quarter and left the game, but X-rays were negative. He eventually returned and had 16 points and seven assists.

Backup shooting guard Daniel Gibson missed his third game in the last six with a sore right elbow. Both will have MRIs on Wednesday.

Cleveland played its fourth game in five nights. The Cavaliers went 0-3 on a trip through Orlando, Miami and Memphis - with the losses coming by a combined 12 points.

Asked if the grueling schedule was a factor in the latest loss, Scott said, "Nope. I didn't think our energy level was up to start the game. Andy's energy's level was up and Alonzo Gee got after it defensively, but after that, nothing."

The Cavaliers scored 13 points in the first quarter after putting up nine in the fourth of Monday's loss to the Grizzlies.

Phoenix avoided its worst road start in a decade. The Suns opened their 2002-03 road schedule 1-7.

The Suns are giving up a league-worst 103.3 points per game, but Cleveland struggled offensively. The Cavaliers scored 32 points and made 12 of 44 shots in the first half, finishing at 36 percent (30 of 84) for the game.

The Suns overcame a 26-point third-quarter deficit in a 107-105 victory over the Cavaliers on Nov. 9 in Phoenix.

NOTES: O'Neal had nine points, snapping his streak of double-figure games at five. ... Technical fouls were issued to Suns G Shannon Brown and Waiters in the third quarter. ... Phoenix is at Detroit on Wednesday. The Suns complete their road trip against Toronto, New York and Memphis. ... Irving went through a shooting drill before the game with his finger in a splint and heavily wrapped in blue tape. ... The Cavaliers went into Tuesday having played a league-low four home games. ... Cleveland is off until Friday when it plays at Atlanta.

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Suns 91, Cavaliers 78

Brian Dulik, for NBA.com
Posted Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:10 PM - Updated Tue Nov 27, 2012 11:37 PM

THE FACTS: Point guard Goran Dragic collected 19 points, five rebounds and seven assists as the Phoenix Suns pulled away for a 91-78 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Power forward Michael Beasley added 15 points for Phoenix, which also got 14 points off the bench from power forward Luis Scola. Cleveland center Anderson Varejao had game highs of 20 points and 18 rebounds -- recording his career-high sixth straight double-double -- while rookie shooting guard Dion Waiters scored 16 points. The Suns swept their two-game season series from the Cavaliers.

QUOTABLE: "I'll make just a real quick statement. Andy Varejao was fantastic and everyone else sucked tonight. Anything else you need to know."

-- Cavaliers coach Byron Scott

THE STAT: NBA rebounding leader Varejao is averaging 14.7 points and 17.7 rebounds during his six-game double-double streak. The mop-topped Brazilian, who made 10-for-15 field goals against the Suns, is averaging 14.5 points and 14.9 boards on the season. "Varejao comes up with about six rebounds a game -- including tonight -- that he has no business getting, but he does because of the great energy he plays with," Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry. "I just love watching him out there."

TURNING POINT: After the Cavaliers took a 59-57 lead on a Waiters layup with 3:28 left in the third quarter, the Suns scored the final 14 points of the period and maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game. Shooting guard Jared Dudley, Beasley and Scola each scored four points during the run. "They just outplayed us there, they wanted it more," Waiters said. "We've got to come out with a better sense of urgency, like we have been when we're on the road."

QUOTABLE II: "We're not Oklahoma City. We're not the best team in the West, but we can play better and we can come home from this (six-game, 10-day road trip) above .500."

-- Suns shooting guard Jared Dudley

HOT: Varejao scored 14 points on 7-for-8 shooting with five rebounds in the third quarter. He also became the second Cavaliers player with six straight double-doubles, joining Jim Chones (who also had six in 1977-1978), and the first NBA player with 15-plus rebounds in six consecutive games in a single season since Orlando center Dwight Howard in 2010-11. ... Waiters dished out a career-high seven assists -- all in the third -- after having X-rays taken on his left hand at halftime. ... Suns backup center Jermaine O'Neal, who had nine points and six rebounds, is averaging 12.0 points and 6.0 boards in his last six games.

NOT: The Cavaliers are 1-10 in their last 11 games. They also completed their first four-games-in-five-nights set without a win. ... Cleveland shooting guard C.J. Miles went 3-for-11 from the floor and missed all five of his 3-pointers, dropping his dismal season percentages to .289 and .268, respectively. ... Cavaliers power forward Tristan Thompson went 1-for-7 shooting for the second home game in a row. ... Cleveland point guard Jeremy Pargo is 11-for-37 on field goals with 12 turnovers over the last three games. ... Suns center Marcin Gortat only had six points and three rebounds in 24 minutes, going 0-of-4 on free throws.

QUOTABLE III: "We didn't play as a team tonight. The fourth quarter was terrible. When you don't give yourself a chance to play defense, it's hard. When you take bad shots, it leads to easy fast breaks."

-- Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao

GOOD MOVE: With the Suns just two games into their longest road trip of the season, Gentry used a 10-man rotation and substituted liberally. Dragic (31 minutes) and Beasley (29 minutes) were the only Phoenix players to log more than 25 minutes. "Obviously, the Cavs were a little tired, so we wanted to push the tempo a little bit tonight," Gentry said. "Once we finally got our energy up in the third quarter, we did that, and I thought we did a great job of finding the mismatches."

BAD MOVE: Cavaliers shooting guard Daniel "Boobie" Gibson was expected to play, but did not accompany his teammates out of the tunnel. Following the first quarter, team officials announced that he was out with a sore right elbow. Gibson, who has now been a last-minute scratch three times in the last six games with the injury, will undergo an MRI on Wednesday. Waiters, whose X-rays were negative, is also scheduled to have additional tests performed on his left hand.

NOTABLE: Cavaliers center Tyler Zeller and his older brother, Suns center Luke Zeller, played in the same game for the first time as professionals -- but were not on the court at the same time. Tyler had two points and two rebounds in 20 minutes, while Luke grabbed one board in three minutes. "I wanted to outscore him, but I couldn't get up a 3-pointer there at the end," Luke Zeller joked. "That was the plan, though." ... Waiters and Brown were assessed double-technicals in the third quarter, while Tyler Zeller and O'Neal went nose-to-nose in the fourth, but O'Neal received the only technical. ... Reigning NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving (left index finger fracture) is expected to be sidelined until mid-December for Cleveland. He worked out on the arena's main court before the game with his broken finger heavily protected. ... Suns radio announcer Tim Kempton was the Cavaliers' starting center in the final NBA game played at The Coliseum in suburban Richfield, Ohio.

UP NEXT: For the Suns, Wednesday @ Detroit, Friday @ Toronto, Sunday @ New York. For the Cavaliers, Friday @ Atlanta, Saturday vs. Portland, Monday @ Detroit.