Antawn Jamison injured his left knee in the Cleveland Cavaliers 97-95 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.  Jamison had an MRI on the knee to see if there was any damage, and it turned out to be great news for the Cavs since there was no serious damage.  Jamison has been a great addition to the Cavaliers ever since they acquired him in a trade last month.  In 10 games with the Cavaliers, Jamison is averaging 17.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.7 steals.  Jamison described the knee as being stiff, so he is going to try and play this Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers.  LeBron James will also be returning Friday.  Shaquille O’Neal is expected to be out about another month with his thumb still healing from surgery.  The Cavaliers are expected to bring back Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who they can resign as early as March 22nd, so he can help fill Shaq’s void if the Cavs do pick him up again.  The Cavaliers are slowly getting healthy again and they should be at full strength when the playoffs start on April 17th.

LeBron James twisted his right ankle in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 99-92 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Friday.  He still had a monster game, finishing with 40 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.  His ankle was very sore and swelled a lot after that game though, and the Cavaliers’ superstar has since sat out two straight games.  The ankle injury does not seem to be serious and James probably could have played tonight against the Spurs.  The Cavaliers did lose in Milwaukee 85-92 without James, and in the past three years they are 0-7 without LeBron. That being said, I still think it is a good move by the Cavaliers to keep LeBron out for one more game.  That is because they have three days off after tonight’s game, so it gives his ankle almost a full week of rest and rehabilitation and the Cavs don’t have to worry too much about it getting worse or having him re-injure it.  LeBron is having another phenomenal season, and is likely the front-runner for the MVP with averages of 30.0 points, 8.5 assists, 7.2 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.0 blocks while shooting 51% from the field and 35% from three.

Starting center Shaquille O’Neal will be out for a little while due to a sprained right thumb. He has played in 53 games (all starts) for the Cavaliers this season and he is averaging 23.4 minutes, 12.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game. With Zydrunas Ilgauskas out of town the Cavs will turn to Anderson Varejao as the starting center while Shaq is out. Varejao has played in 57 games (6 starts) for the Cavs this season and he is averaging 29.3 minutes, 8.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 blocked shot per game. The Cavs will need J.J. Hickson to step up and replace Varejao as the first big man off the bench until Shaq returns to action. He has played in 58 games (51 starts) for the Cavaliers this season and he is averaging 19.4 minutes, 7.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. The Cavaliers should be o.k. until Shaq is ready to return to action.

UPDATE: O’Neal will miss the next 6-8 weeks as he recovers from thumb surgery. The Cavaliers are hoping that Zydrunas Ilguaskas will re-sign with them in the next 3-4 weeks.

Antawn Jamison got his first start for the Cleveland Cavaliers last night and helped the Cavs end a season-high three-game losing streak.  Jamison played 37 minutes, going 7-14 from the field and finishing with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in a 105-99 win over the New Orleans Hornets.  Jamison has now put together two good games after a horrendous debut with the Cavs.  In his first outing after being acquired in a trade from the Washington Wizards, he went 0-12 and finished with just 2 points.  He bounced back well in the next game and had 19 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block in 31 minutes off the bench.  It looks like Jamison quickly forgot about that terrible debut and is already settling in nicely with the Cavs.  He has looked like the Antawn Jamison everyone has grown accustomed to seeing in his 11 years in the NBA, where he has career averages of 19.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.0 steals, and 46% FG shooting.  .

Starting point guard Mo Williams is back for the Cavaliers as he healed more quickly than originally projected and that’s great news. Williams has played in 44 games (43 starts) this season for the Cavaliers and he is averaging 35.2 minutes, 16.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Williams is shooting 43.2% from three point range and he will definately help the Cavs get the offense in full gear especially now with another brand new shiny weapon in Antwan Jamison.