Center Anderson Varejao is the talk of Brazil, and for good reason.
As part of the NBA’s Global games series, the Cavs are playing an exhibition game tonight at 5 p.m. In Rio de Janeiro against the Miami Heat, the team Cleveland small forward LeBron James led to four straight NBA Finals appearance and two titles.
“To be able to go back to your country and play a game, it’s something that 10 years ago, when I got to Cleveland, I could never imagine,” Varejao said. “It was something that was impossible.” Varejao is very excited to be back home with his team.
Varejao is from Vitoria, Espirito Santo, a small island within a bay where several rivers lead to the sea. Varejao’s wife is from Rio de Janeiro, which has a population of approximately 6 million people and is 258 million miles from his hometown (pop. 1.8 million).
The location where the team is staying is unknown. It is looking like Varejao will be starting against the Heat. Tristan Thompson started at center this past Sunday in the Cavs’ preseason opener against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Varejao, commonly known as “The Wild Thing” missed just 17 games last season and was sidelined for 57 games in 2012-13, when he was off to a spectacular start over the first 25 games, averaging 14.1 points, 14.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists.
Varejao has missed 166 games over the past four season. Hoping that Varejao will stay healthy this season and into post season also.
The big showdown tonight between the Cavs and the Heat will be a great game especially with James facing his old teammates. There really isn’t any concerns with the Cavs winning because they have the missing pieces put together.
On the other hand, the Miami Heat have concerns because they have a lot of new faces such as Shannon Brown, Luol Deng, Josh McRoberts and Danny Granger and do not know how they will mesh with current teammates such as Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Mario Chalmers.
While it is only a pre-season game, you can expect bot the Heat and Cavaliers to use tonight’s game as a early-season barometer of how both stack up against each other.
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