Cavs fall to Wizards 99-95

 CLEVELAND: Tristan Thompson had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Andersno Varejao had 11 points and 10 rebounds in the Cavaliers' 99-95 preseason loss to the Washington Wizards on Saturday.

Thompson did most of his damage in the first quarter, when he had 13 of the Cavs' first 18 points and six of their first 11 rebounds. He sent the Wizards' Jan Vesely to the bench early with two fouls while dominating in the post.

Rookie Dion Waiters started for the first time in his career, but was unable to capitalize on the momentum from his big performance on Friday. Waiters had just four points, shot 2 of 9 and missed both of his 3-point attempts. He scored 18 points in Friday's win against the Chicago Bulls and went 4 for 4 on 3-pointers. Aside from Friday, Waiters has missed his other five 3-point attempts.

Waiters was the trigger man on an inbounds play in the third quarter, but couldn't get the ball in and began shouting "Hey!" frantically rather than call a timeout. He was whistled for five seconds as Scott simply rubbed his head in frustration. 

Alonzo Gee, the typical starter at small forward, came off the bench Saturday and turned in his best performance of the preseason. Coach Byron Scott said prior to Saturday's game he wasn't benching Gee because of his bad camp, but instead to get a look at Waiters and C.J. Miles together in the starting lineup.

Gee responded with 11 points off the bench, including seven in the fourth quarter. 

Kyrie Irving had nine points for the Cavs, but continued to struggle with his shot. He made 3 of 13 from the field and is 5 of 28 over the last two games. He is shooting 24 percent (11 of 46) this preseason.

The Cavs had a chance to tie in the final seconds when A.J. Price split a pair of free throws in the final seconds to give the Wizards a 97-95 lead, but Price rebounded his own miss. Bradley Beal was then sent to the line and he missed both free throws, but again grabbed his own rebound. He went back to the line and made both attempts to close out the win.

The Cavs are 2-2 in the preseason.