Cavaliers beat Clippers 99-92

2/8/2012
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cleveland Cavaliers' Ramon Sessions, right, shoots over Los Angeles Clippers' Caron Butler in the second quarter Wednesday night.
Cleveland Cavaliers' Ramon Sessions, right, shoots over Los Angeles Clippers' Caron Butler in the second quarter Wednesday night.

CLEVELAND — Ramon Sessions scored a season-high 24 points as a last-minute replacement for injured rookie Kyrie Irving and Antawn Jamison scored 27, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 99-92 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

Sessions didn’t know he was starting until moments before the game when the Cavs diagnosed Irving with a concussion. Sessions added 13 assists in his first start this season.

Daniel Gibson scored 17 points in his return for Cleveland after missing five games with a neck infection.

Blake Griffin scored 25 before fouling out with 6.6 seconds left for the Clippers, who tied it at 87 with 2:10 left after trailing by 15 in the third quarter. But Gibson made a 3-pointer and Anderson Varejao dropped a key jumper with 29 seconds left as Cleveland hung on.

Chris Paul had 16 points and 12 assists for Los Angeles, playing its first game without injured guard Chauncey Billups.