THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — The Cavaliers concluded practice on Monday with a lighthearted game of football. The one player missing was the same one missing Saturday night — Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
Ilgauskas was set to become Cleveland’s franchise leader in games played Saturday against Dallas, but coach Mike Brown elected not to play him. It’s a decision that has upset Ilgauskas and LeBron James.
"I definitely thought he should’ve played," James said. "As a friend of his, I was very upset and I know he was, also."
Ilgauskas shares the record, currently at 723 games, with the team’s general manager, Danny Ferry.
He is typically one of the last players to leave Cleveland’s locker room after games. On Saturday, he was the first. He also declined to participate in the team’s pickup football game on Monday, instead choosing to shoot at a basket with an assistant coach for a few minutes before leaving the court without speaking to reporters.
"I’m not trying to stir up anything with coach or whatever is going on with the organization, but sometimes one game is the smaller things," James said. "What was on the line was something way bigger than us playing the Mavericks. That was ‘Z’ breaking the record."
Brown said he intended on Ilgauskas playing his usual allotment of about 25 minutes, but the game’s tempo prevented it from happening. Brown stuck with a smaller lineup that included playing James at centre for a short stretch in what was arguably Cleveland’s finest game of the season.
Shaquille O’Neal played just 25 minutes in the Cavaliers’ 111-95 win against Dallas that included big nights from Jamario Moon, Delonte West and Anderson Varejao, each of whom played at least 28 minutes.
"It wasn’t planned. Even as the course of the game went on, I didn’t expect to not play him," Brown said. "You can call it a mistake, you can call it a coaching decision. I get paid good money and I feel like I’ve done a decent job of treating guys right. Maybe in a lot of guys’ minds, I didn’t this time, I don’t know. But that’s part of being a head coach."
Ilgauskas has spent his entire 14-year career in Cleveland. He missed essentially three full seasons early on while dealing with broken bones in his feet. He is the team’s all-time leader in blocks and rebounds and one of four in team history to score at least 10,000 points.
"He’s been everything to this franchise and has given everything since he’s been here," James said. "A lot of the guys that are here do not have the same history that I have with Z. They don’t know what Z has been through.
"I don’t think any of us would’ve been mad if Z started. He could’ve started, been subbed as soon as the game started and that would’ve given the fans a chance to give him a standing ovation. That’s just the way I would’ve envisioned it."
Brown said he hasn’t given much thought to starting Ilgauskas in Cleveland’s next game, which is also at home against Phoenix on Wednesday, nor was he upset with James’ remarks.
"That’s fine," Brown said. "This is not the only time he or anybody else on my team has been upset with me."
Ilgauskas is off to the worst start of his career. He is averaging 7.1 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting 38 per cent from the floor. He entered the season shooting 48 per cent for his career.
Brown said he goes into every game with a minutes sheet that he keeps in his shirt pocket, but he doesn’t always follow it.
"A lot of coaching, at least for me, is by gut feel," Brown said. "You know who’s in the game, but sometimes you make decisions based on the flow of the game or matchups on the floor.
"There are times throughout the course of a game when you might have forgotten a certain guy is in uniform, but that wasn’t the case with Z. It was just at the time, matchup-wise, this is what I chose to do."
Ilgauskas is in the final year of his contract and has hinted he might retire after the season. James was a big proponent in Ilgauskas receiving a five-year contract during the summer of 2005.
"I think he knows I’m behind him in whatever he does," James said. "Me and Z are the only remaining two from when I was drafted. I stand behind whatever Z does because he’s more than a teammate. He’s a friend of mine and he’s a big part in why this franchise turned around."
