Varejao hits winning 3 for Cavs

CLEVELAND (AP) — Anderson Varejao made his first career 3-pointer with 17.2 seconds left — a 25th birthday present to teammate LeBron James — to give Cleveland a 106-101 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, the Cavaliers’ 11th victory in 12 games.

James scored a season-high 48 points with 10 rebounds for the Cavs.

With the score tied at 101 and the 24-second shot clock down to its final tick, the ball wound up in the hands of Varejao, who missed his first 18 career 3-pointers. But the frizzy-haired Brazilian stepped up and drilled his long shot before James rushed into his arms.

After Atlanta’s Mike Bibby missed a 3 with six seconds left, Jamario Moon made two free throws to ice the Cavs’ sixth straight win.

Story appears in Thursday’s edition.