"He had just finished off the Minnesota Timberwolves, completed a postgame interview and was headed for the locker room when a Timberwolves fan sitting courtside stopped Kyrie Irving to show him his sign: Ricky of the Year.

"That's nice," Irving responded.

He didn't have to say anything else. The Cavs' performance did most of the talking with a 98-87 victory on Friday.

Irving rebounded from a miserable performance against Toronto on Wednesday to finish with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists in his much-anticipated matchup against Timberwolves rookie point guard Ricky Rubio.

But it was veterans Antawn Jamison and Anderson Varejao who did much of the heavy lifting. Jamison had 22 points, while Varejao had 13 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals in a game the Cavs controlled from the second quarter until the finish.

Jamison didn't mind all the pregame buzz about Irving and Rubio, Tristan Thompson and Derrick Williams, but he didn't mind taking over the game, either.

"It makes sense to have that talk because you have a talented group of players on both teams. They're going to be the future of this league and they have been playing well so far," Jamison said. "But every once in a while, the old people can get in there and play a little bit.""