Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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Savor it, Cavaliers fans- your team is over .500, at least for the moment. With Kyrie Irving filling it up, Anderson Varejao grabbing every loose ball in sight and rookie Dion Waiters chipping in with some clutch play, Cleveland turned back a fourth-quarter rally to defeat the shorthanded Washington Wizards 94-84 on Tuesday night.

Jumping Out Early: Washington came into opening night without the services of perhaps its two best players: point guard John Wall and power forward Nene. The Cavaliers took advantage of their absence and for much of the night appeared on the way to an easy victory. A breakaway dunk by Tristan Thompson gave Cleveland a 19-17 lead with 3:41 left in the first period, and the Cavaliers would hold their advantage all the way into the fourth period, leading by double digits much of the way.

Welcome Back, Anderson: Doing much of the work to keep Cleveland in front was Anderson Varejao, who made a sensational return after missing the final two months of last season with a broken wrist. Anderson terrorized the Wizards all night on defense and on the boards and even channeled Bill Walton as a facilitating big man. The final line for the Brazilian was breathtaking: 9 points, a career-high 23 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 blocked shots and 3 offensive fouls forced. Byron Scott is surely ecstatic about that kind of production; so am I, because I root for the Cavaliers and because Anderson is on my fantasy team.

Okay, Maybe the Kid Can Play: After an up-and-down preseason, first-round rookie Dion Waiters made his NBA regular-season debut… and played pretty damned well. Playing smoothly and in control, the kid from Syracuse ripped home 17 on 6-of-14 from the field, 2-of-5 from three-point range and 3-of-4 from the line. Waiters did a nice job handling the ball and also played a solid game defensively with three steals, including a theft of Bradley Beal and breakaway dunk that gave the Cavaliers a 61-45 lead with 8:33 left in the third quarter. But the rookie’s biggest shot of the night was still to come.

Good First Impression: What most impressed me about Waiter’s night wasn’t necessarily the numbers; it was the way he carried himself. A rookie can look lost on his first night, but right from the beginning Waiters played with the confidence of a guy who knows the NBA isn’t too big for him.

Kyrie’s Line: 29 points on 11-of-20 from the field, 3-of-6 from three-point range and 4-of-5 from the line with 3 assists, 6 rebounds and a blocked shot. With Wall out of action the Wizards didn’t have anyone who could stop Kyrie on offense or make him work on defense. (Wall’s understudy A.J. Price shot a putrid 2-of-13.) It was a quietly effective performance for the star from Duke, who didn’t go on any spectacular runs but still efficiently piled up the numbers.

Meltdown: The Cavaliers carried a 74-62 lead going into the fourth quarter and seemingly had everything going their way. Then, with the second unit on the floor, things suddenly went sideways. Cleveland missed its first six shots of the period while committing four turnovers; Washington, meanwhile, got hot on both ends. When Jennaro Pargo drained a three-pointer to cap a 16-0 run, the Wizards were out in front 76-74 with 8:12 to play.

Big-Shot Rookie: Enter Dion Waiters. With seven minutes remaining the rookie coolly rose up and splashed a three-pointer to put Cleveland back in front, ending a scoring drought that had lasted nearly five-and-a-half minutes. Varejao was fouled under the basket on the play and when he hit his free throw the Cavaliers led, 78-76. Although Washington would forge a tie on two occasions afterward, Cleveland would not trail again. It was a gutsy shot by Waiters, who showed why, although he didn’t start at Syracuse, he was always on the floor for the end of games.     

Final Takeover: After Washington tied the score at 80-80 on Martell Webster’s layup with 5:31 remaining, the Cavaliers ended the night on a 14-4 run. An Alonzo Gee tip-in, two Varejao free throws and a jumper by Kyrie Irving gave Cleveland an 86-80 lead; the Cavaliers then put it away on three straight dunks by Tristan Thompson, who was the recipient of perfect feeds by Varejao and Irving.  

Sloppy Play: Cleveland kept the Wizards in the game thanks in large part to some careless handling of the basketball. The Cavaliers committed an even 20 turnovers on the night, including the rash of miscues that fueled Washington’s fourth-quarter rally. At times there was too much dribbling and not enough ball-handling, with players driving pell-mell into the teeth of the defense and losing control of the basketball. The mistakes were par for the course for a very young team playing its first game of the season. Against the likes of Washington the Cavaliers can get away with that kind of thing, but they’d be wise to clean up their act against the better teams.

Hustle Points: Fortunately, turnovers weren’t the only statistic in which the Cavaliers had a healthy advantage. With Varejao leading the charge Cleveland hammered the Wizards on the boards, racking up a 54-39 edge. Varejao’s frontcourt partner Tristan Thompson banged and crashed for ten rebounds of his own on the way to a 12-and-10 night. (Thompson also had five assists as Cleveland’s starting big men combined for 14 dimes.) I would say Cleveland also held Washington to 35.6 percent shooting, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate; the Wizards mainly held themselves to that number with shot selection that can generously be described as “atrocious.”

Next: Friday night at 7:30 when the Cavaliers host another shorthanded team, the Chicago Bulls.