Written by Demetri Inembolidis

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The Cavs traveled to Atlanta and took on the Hawks on Friday night.  The game was one that had a lot of runs between the home and away teams.  It felt like every time the Cavs made a run, the Hawks made one as equally as strong.  The Hawks closed out the second quarter with a 20-4 run and they had a they had a 7-0 run to finish the third quarter.  The Cavs returned the favor and had a 10-0 run towards the end of the 4th quarter which put the game within reach.

The Cavs dominated the Hawks on the glass.  Any time a team out-rebounds their opponent 49-28, they will have an opportunity to win.  The rebounding differential afforded the Cavs 7 more field goal attempts than the Hawks which proved to be the difference between winning and losing the game.  History will remember this game as the one where Alonzo Gee rebounded Dion Waiters' three point shot attempt and laid it in with 0.3 seconds left, but that basket would not have mattered if the Cavs didn't put themselves in a position to win with all of the extra possessions.

What more can we say about Anderson Varejao at this point?  When news broke that Kyrie Irving would miss four weeks due to a fractured left finger, I was concerned that the team would be unwatchable until he returned.  Hell, they were pretty unwatchable with Irving.  Varejao has been playing out of his mind and is making a rock-solid argument for why he should be going to Houston for the All Star game.  Varejao had 15+ rebounds for the seventh game in a row.  In addition, this was his seventh double-double in a row.  The Brazilian big man had 20 points, 18 rebounds and 3 assists in 35 highly-effective minutes.  I could be wrong about this, but it felt like the Cavs didn't run a single play for Varejao.  There wasn't a single thing Varejao didn't do well against the Hawks.  He scored, rebounded, distributed, didn't foul and even made some clutch free throws with 15.8 seconds remaining in the game.  The only thing Varejao could have done that would have been more spectacular would have been hitting a game-winning three as he did in 2009. 

The entire game was fun to watch, however things got very entertaining during the fourth quarter.  It appeared as if the Hawks had an insurmountable lead when they were up 8 with 7:28 remaining in the game.  The Cavs took a 99-97 lead off a Daniel Gibson three pointer with 4:23 remaining in the game and immediately coughed up their short-lived lead on the next possession with Josh Smith made a 20 foot jump shot.  The Cavs gave up two three point shots within 5 seconds and they found themselves with the ball and a 111-111 tie.  Dion Waiters took a poor-looking three point shot, Alonzo Gee was at the right place at the right time and he laid it in for a 113-111 win.

In addition to Anerson Varejao, Tristan Thompson had a strong night on the glass.  Thompson had 15 rebounds in the game.  It took Thompson a little while to get going, but he had 6 well-timed rebounds in the 4th quarter.  Varejao and Thompson combined for 33 rebounds in the game, which is 5 more than the Atlanta Hawks had as a team.  It was promising to see Varejao and Thompson boxing out for the other guy.  This is the kind of play that helps teams win.  When a player is willing to sacrifice their personal stats in exchange for a better chance at a win, only good things can happen. 

The rookies looked good for the Cavs.  Tyler Zeller came in off the bench in the first quarter had a quick 8 points and 2 rebounds in 6 minutes.  Dion Waiters had a 14 point and 4 assist second quarter. 

Jeremy Pargo did his best Kyrie Irving impression once again.  Pargo had a highly-effective 4th quarter with 10 points on 5-7 shooting.  The stats are nice, but it is great to see him play with such comfort and to have a great command of the game in the foruth quarter. 

This was a great win for the team.  The Cavs had lost four straight and the Hawks had won six consecutive games going into the match up on Friday night.   The team was down by 9 going into the fourth quarter and managed to hang onto the win despite giving up a big run to the Hawks.

The Cavs take on the Portland Trailblazers on Saturday night.  Tipoff is at 7:30.