Cleveland Cavaliers end 10-game slide with Lamar Stevens’ winning dunk, beat Atlanta Hawks 112-111 – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Finally.

After a month of misery, the Cleveland Cavaliers had reason to celebrate, ending their 10-game losing streak by beating the Atlanta Hawks, 112-111. It was an unlikely hero who delivered the badly needed get-right moment.

Undrafted rookie Lamar Stevens, playing on a two-way contract and fighting to prove he belongs in the league, spoke less than a week ago about not yet having his NBA signature moment. Forget that. He’s got one now. A game-winning dunk with 4.1 seconds on the clock, keeping the Cavaliers from squandering a 13-point first half lead, rallying back from a five-point deficit with three minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Darius Garland’s costly turnover with about 30 seconds left seemed to be the crushing mistake the Cavs couldn’t overcome. But Trae Young got hounded toward the sideline, near Cleveland’s bench, forcing the Hawks to call their final timeout and giving J.B. Bickerstaff a chance to make a late offense-defense substitution, calling for Stevens.

Following the brief stoppage, Young missed one of his patented floaters, Stevens collected the rebound, quickly flipped the ball to Collin Sexton and sprinted up the floor. Sexton initiated, drew multiple defenders and passed to Stevens for an uncontested driving dunk. Out of timeouts, the Hawks scrambled around before the clock expired.

Stevens the dunk. Sexton, who labeled Tuesday’s matchup a must-win game, the assist. Just as the Cavs drew it up, right?

Hey, whatever it takes.

“The best part about that game is when you go up and down the stat sheet, literally everybody who played contributed to winning that game,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s what made it even better and even sweeter, although they all taste sweet at this point.”

Not chosen as an NBA All-Star hours earlier, Sexton scored a game-high 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting and 3-of-5 from 3-point range to go with five assists. Garland chipped in with 17 and eight helpers. Dylan Windler came off the bench, pouring in 15 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from deep. Stevens had eight points — none bigger than the clinching bucket that led to him being mobbed by his teammates all the way up the tunnel leading to the locker room.

“He’s earned the respect of the coaching staff and his teammates,” Bickerstaff said. “Every minute he gets is deserved and I think that’s the most important thing. He’s not being handed anything. He wasn’t handed anything at the beginning of the year. He worked his tail off to show that he earned it and that he deserved it. I think that’s why he’s being rewarded for it.”

At one point during the game, teammates Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. playfully wrestled around on the sidelines. It was that kind of night. Both injured power forwards, who might have been on the floor in Stevens’ spot instead, exploded when Stevens threw down his dunk. They were quickest to greet the youngster once the buzzer sounded.

The Cavs have repeatedly walked off the court with looks of dejection recently. That finally changed Tuesday night. The eruption of joy was 22 long days in the making.

Interested spectator

Matthew Dellavedova, who hasn’t played this season because of a severe concussion and recently underwent an appendectomy, was on the bench for the first time. Dellavedova, still walking a bit gingerly, provided tips to Cleveland’s young guards throughout the game and celebrated on the sidelines.

Early exit

Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins, who took a hard hit to the head in the first half, was replaced by Danilo Gallinari at the start of the third quarter. Collins was ruled out for concussion evaluation. He finished with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting to go with three rebounds and one assist in 13 minutes.

Up next

The Cavs will wrap up their homestand Wednesday night, playing the Houston Rockets on the second night of a back-to-back. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.