Cleveland now looks to even series against the Boston Celtics tonight

INDEPENDENCE — It started with a young man confiscating a backstage pass, asking Cavaliers coach Mike Brown an off-the-wall question and then sneaking into the team’s locker room prior to the game.

It continued with fun-loving, wild-haired Anderson Varejao running onto the floor even though Ben Wallace had just been announced as the team’s starting power forward.

It ended with 3-year-old LeBron James Jr. cooing into the microphone while seated next to Dad at the postgame interview podium.

Yes, it was an interesting night Saturday at Quicken Loans Arena, where the Cavaliers defeated the Boston Celtics 108-84 in Game 3 of their best-of-seven playoff series.

It all started during Brown’s nightly pregame session with the media. After several humdrum questions, a young man, not identifiable as a media member who had been covering the series, suddenly blurted out, “Is LeBron going to go for 50 (points) tonight?”

A startled Brown, obviously taken aback, replied, “I don’t know. I hope so.”

Moments later, the young man was spotted inside the Cavaliers locker room. When asked who he was, he pointed to an Asian media member who regularly covers the team and told a Cavaliers official that he spoke Mandarin and was acting as the reporter’s translator. Problem was, the Asian reporter speaks and understands English very well, and the team official knew it.

It was at that point that the Cavalier official noticed the young man wasn’t wearing a media credential, but a backstage pass he had stolen from a member of the “Scream Team,” which often performs during timeouts.

Realizing he had been caught, the young man tossed his pass on the floor and bolted out of the building.

“He snuck by our security people,” Brown said Sunday following a short practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts. “That was good. I turned around, and he was in our locker room. I’ve got to take my hat off to him.”

When it was suggested to Brown that he probably didn’t want to encourage others to try the same thing, he smiled and added, “I take that back.”

Another imposter, Varejao, jokingly ran onto the floor when Wallace’s name was announced as part of the starting lineup for Game 3.

Wallace left Game 2 in Boston on Thursday when he became dizzy early in the first quarter, presumably as a result of all the smoke that was in TD Banknorth Garden after the Celtics’ pregame festivities. He did not deem himself fit to play in Game 3 until an hour before game time, but as a precautionary measure the veteran decided to stay in the tunnel and avoid all the fireworks and noise the Cavaliers use in their pregame introductions.

Seeing Wallace was not on the bench when his name was announced, a smiling Varejao ran out and slapped hands with his teammates, who were laughing even harder.

“Everybody wants to start,” Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. “Andy took an opportunity.”

The night concluded with precocious LeBron James Jr. sitting next to his dad on the interview podium. It wasn’t long before the restless 3-year-old started babbling into the microphone and jumping around.

On several occasions, an on-air announcer for NBA TV referred to the youngster, who had his long hair pulled back in a ponytail, as “she.”

Dad took everything in stride, but ultimately determined Little LeBron was harder to handle than Boston’s top-ranked defense.

It was at that point that the 23-year-old James turned to former Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School teammate Maverick Carter, one of his closest advisers, and said, “Mav, come get your nephew.”

Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net.

 

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