Nine months ago, Alonzo Gee was in the same situation in the same arena — and failed to make the play.
Friday night, Gee grabbed an offensive rebound off an airballed 3-point shot by rookie Dion Waiters and put it in with .3 seconds left to lift the Cavaliers to a surprising 113-111 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in Philips Arena.
It more than made up for him failing to score with an offensive rebound at the buzzer after a miss by Kyrie Irving in a 103-102 overtime loss to the Hawks here on March 21.
On Friday night, Waiters insisted his last shot hit the rim, but he might have been the only person in the arena who thought so. Gee admitted he thought it was going to go in.
“I had confidence he was going to make that,” Gee said charitably. “He was in rhythm, and I just thought it was going in.
“Then when I caught it I was like, ‘Oh, another opportunity.’ Last year, I had the same kind of play, but I missed the shot. So it was good.”
It was his first game-winner in the NBA, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The Cavs, 4-12, had lost four straight and 10 of 11.
”’They also had lost seven straight to the Hawks.
“It was a great feeling for me,” Gee said. “We needed this win. It was very important for us.”
As the final buzzer sounded, Anderson Varejao wrapped Gee in a bear hug and the Cavs swarmed around to celebrate. Gee got the game-winner, but there were many contributors.
Whereas coach Byron Scott ripped his team after Tuesday’s lackluster loss to Phoenix by saying, “Anderson Varejao was fantastic, and everybody else sucked,” he took it back Friday.
“Well, tonight Andy Varejao was again fantastic and everybody else didn’t suck,” he said, laughing.
Jeremy Pargo led the Cavs with 22 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Waiters scored 21, though he made just 6 of 16 shots overall and 2 of 7 3-pointers.
Varejao had 20 points and 18 rebounds, his seventh straight double double, which set a Cavs record. Tristan Thompson tied his career-high with 15 rebounds as the Cavs outrebounded the Hawks, 49-28.
Daniel Gibson, who missed two of the past five games with a sore right elbow, played 27:33 on Friday and hit three big 3-pointers as the Cavs rallied from a 91-87 deficit early in the fourth quarter.
Josh Smith had 25 points and eight rebounds for the Hawks (9-5), who tied the game at 111-111 with a 3-pointer by Lou Williams with 13.6 seconds left, setting the stage for Waiters and Gee.
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