CLEVELAND, Ohio — At least Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao hasn't lost his sense of humor.

When reporters met with him in the locker room of The Q before Friday night's game against the New York Knicks to ask how disappointed he was over being shut down for the rest of the season because of his sore right wrist, Varejao grinned and said: "What disappointment? I'm playing tonight."

If only that were the case. Instead, he will miss the remaining games -- for a total of 41 this season -- because the wrist he fractured on Feb. 10 against Milwaukee is sore and stiff. According to the Cavs, the fracture has healed, but Varejao still has pain.

"I'm not sure what it is," said Varejao, who was averaging 10.8 points and 11.5 rebounds at the time of the injury and had been mentioned as a possible All-Star. "I just know it hurts a lot."

He is disappointed his season will end prematurely -- again -- but he is looking forward to playing for Brazil in the Olympics this summer in London, apparently with the Cavs' blessing.

"It's terrible that I'm not going to be able to play this season," Varejao said. "The good thing is the bone is healed now. I'm going to keep working out. Unfortunately I can't play this season anymore, but I'm very excited for the Olympics."

It is the second straight season cut short by injury for Varejao. Last season, he missed the last 47 games with a torn tendon in his right foot. In 2005-06, he missed the first 32 games of the season with a dislocated right shoulder suffered in qualifying for the world championship games.

Coach Byron Scott would love to have his center for a whole season.

"Andy has been unbelievable," Scott said. "The only thing I regret is that he's missed so many games over the last two years because of injuries. I think a lot is because of the way he plays. He plays so hard that sometimes you're going to get hurt.

"He said to me a couple of weeks ago: 'I don't know if God wants me to play for you, coach. I keep getting hurt.' I said: 'No, no. God's fine. Next year, you'll be great. It's like the third year is the charm, so don't worry about it.'

"I don't play the what-if game, but if you have a healthy Andy for the whole season, and a healthy Kyrie [Irving] and I think [Anthony Parker] missed 16 games, I don't know, you're probably looking at 10, 12, 15 more wins."

Praise for Woodson: Scott praised the job former Cavs assistant coach Mike Woodson has done since taking over for Mike D'Antoni in New York on March 14. Woodson has won 15 of his first 20 games with the Knicks.

"Once he took over, the first thing to do is to make sure the team is together and they all have the same goals," Scott said. "I'm not saying they didn't have that goal with Mike D'Antoni. But I think Woody stepped into a very tough situation, and he's done an excellent job, especially on the defensive end. The guys have really bought in to playing defense and understanding if they do that on a consistent basis, night in and night out, they have a chance to be very competitive and win games."

Correction: Lester Hudson, who opted to sign with his hometown Memphis Grizzlies for the rest of the season instead of re-sign with Cleveland, will be eligible for the playoffs because he was not waived. His 10-day contract just expired. Players had to be waived by March 23 in order to be eligible to join another team for the playoffs.

The last word: From Irving, listening to Scott's pregame talk with the media outside the locker room until Scott said he was increasing Irving's minutes Friday, "That's all I needed to hear."