INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Reporters were clustered around players in the victorious Cavaliers locker room after Saturday's 97-93 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
One group was talking to Kyrie Irving. Another was interviewing Andrew Bynum. A third gathered around Dion Waiters. Meanwhile, Alonzo Gee slipped out the door.
"Anyone need Alonzo Gee?'' a media relations person asked.
Though the reporters didn't respond immediately, it's clear the Cavaliers need Gee. In fact, coach Mike Brown called him the unsung hero of Saturday's victory.
"Why is he an unsung hero?'' Brown said. "He had five points, four rebounds, three assists, one turnover. But Luol Deng was hurting us the first half. So we just said we're going to keep our biggest perimeter guy on him, and our best defender, and that was Alonzo. So whenever Luol Deng was in the game, Alonzo was on the floor.
"You're not going to stop a guy like Luol. He's an All-Star. But what you try to do is slow him up as best you can. I thought Alonzo worked his tail off to try to force Deng into some tougher shots than what he was facing when Alonzo wasn't on him.''
Brown's opinion of Gee was shared by former coach Byron Scott. In fact, ever since Gee joined the Cavs about this time three years ago, he has been undervalued by reporters and fans alike. Every season opens with questions about replacing him as the starting small forward and yet here he is again as the Cavs' starter. He started every game there last season and has started the last five heading into Wednesday's game against Denver.
He played almost 36 minutes on Saturday, and his defense against Deng, which prevented him from posting up the Cavaliers guards, was key to Cleveland snapping its five-game losing streak.
"I thought (Gee) had a big night doing that, especially playing extended minutes, and then playing the right way offensively,'' Brown said. "He didn’t have huge numbers for us offensively, but I thought he was a great ball-mover, he was a great spacer, and when he had an opportunity to shoot the ball, and/or run the floor and finish, and/or drive and kick, he did.”
Gee could not care less whether he gets credit for the things he does on the court.
"I just want to win,'' he said. "At the end of the day, if it's [Andrew] Bynum winning the game, I'm happy. If it's Kyrie [Irving], whoever it is. At the end of the day, I just want to win. Whatever I've got to do to win, that's what I'm going to do.''
Bynum good: Brown said there was no problem with Bynum physically after playing a season-high 30 minutes on Saturday, which the coach admitted was encouraging.
“Yeah, he’s been making progress,'' Brown said. "Our medical team has done a great job, he’s done a great job, of stuff that’s needed to be done. [Sunday] we had a day off, he was in here at 9:30 in the morning. That’s how he’s been. Before the season started, he was doing that every day. I think he might have done it every day but one day. That type of dedication from him, from our medical staff, led by [physical therapist] George Sibel. It’s been good.”
Oh, Gee: Unfortunately for Gee, he went to Alabama, so the first question reporters asked him on Monday was whether he was done mourning the Crimson Tide's loss to Auburn on Saturday.
"Really?'' he asked, laughing that the first question he was asked was about the game. "Man, I was upset by that. The fans and everything were like, 'ahhhhhh'. I knew we lost after that. We were warming up, running layups. They started calling my name. 'Alonzo, Alonzo.' Everybody. My teammates. Everybody."
After the interview moved on to other subjects and then concluded, Gee joked about reporters rubbing it in, "That's messed up what y'all did, man.''