Who knew a sprained ankle and a bad punch would steel the resolve of a basketball team?  When Zydrunas Ilgauskas tired of the goonish play of Utah center Greg Ostertag it moved the Cavaliers to stop taking it on the chin from other teams.  In that game they started to give it back to the Jazz like they were getting it.  When James went down during the final moments of regulation it forced the Cavaliers to get off the comfortable wave of LeBronMania where everything else seemingly took a back-seat to his growth.  Under those circumstances the Cavaliers came back and beat the Jazz on the road where the Jazz had been 17-3 at home up to that point.

The sense of urgency finally arrived.

       Losing James for three games thus far has made the Cavaliers realize that they have to continue to play regardless of who is on the floor.  Among those leading the charge have been Carlos Boozer and Kevin Ollie.  Boozer blew up in the fourth quarter and overtime against Utah as well as against the Sonics both Cavaliers wins.  Ollie, in particular, has picked up his play across the board.  Forced into playing major minutes Ollie has pushed the ball picking up the Cavaliers tempo, played great defense including hounding Ray Allen into a 1-9 fourth quarter and had nearly a triple double against the Sacramento Kings and Mike Bibby.in a near Cavalier upset. 

       Not having James has also given DaJuan Wagner a greater chance to jumpstart his recovery from knee surgery.  Wagner has become a bigger part of the offense off the bench and is being put in positions where he can be the most effective.  Driving to the basket is the strength of Wagner's game and the screens used to have James catch the ball on the move are now used for Wagner where he has been able to get into creases and find lanes to the basket rather than being a spot up shooter or have to break down defenders in isolations.  Wagner's confidence has therefore grown and his three point shooting has drastically gotten better.  His first eight games back Wagner went 1-16 from three point range.  The last two games he was 5-11.  Coach Paul Silas doesn't want Wagner to fall in love with the three point shot but he must be able to hit outside shots to compliment his slashing game and continue to expand his overall game.  Eric Williams made a career high four three pointers against Philadelphia and his in a contract year.  Jeff McInnis has 39 games to try and earn $3.6 million for next year so there is plenty of incentive to go around.

The Cavaliers did not trade for Eric Williams, Tony Battie, Kedrick Brown and Jeff McInnis for the future.  They are short term moves intended to have the Cavaliers win now and they will deal with two years down the road when two years get here.

       The Cavaliers face several issues when James eventually returns.  Now James won't have missed the significant amount of time as say a Chris Webber and shouldn't necessarily have as big of an adjustment period as the Kings will with Webber.  But, one can wonder if the team will settle back into a comfortable mode when James does return.  The Cavaliers relied on James to do so many different things that they face the danger of guys stepping back rather than continue with the same aggression and intensity showed when James was on the sidelines.  When you have a centerpiece such as LeBron James return it naturally moves everyone else down a notch.  The same opportunities used by Ollie, Boozer and Wagner to step up will not be there and an adjustment must be made on someone's part.  Either James will have to ease his way back in and not dominate the focus so much as he integrates with Jeff McInnis and a recovering DaJuan Wagner or the other guys continue to do as much as they can with what is given to them.  Whichever the path taken the Cavaliers don't have a huge margin for error as they are as close to the bottom of the NBA as they are to the eighth seed of the playoffs.

       The player that faces the biggest adjustment is probably DaJuan Wagner.  Wagner is used to being the focal point offensively and having the ball just like James.  But, James is the focal point of the Cavaliers and McInnis acquisition moving James off the ball makes Wagner who is only a SG despite his size a backup if James starts at that position as expected.  Now it is possible for Silas to have McInnis, Wagner and James all together but the problems of Wagner and James meshing are still present.  Both players have a tendency to stand and become uninvolved away from the ball and neither player's games are predicated on any kind of outside shooting; three point, spot up or otherwise.  It is a given that James will play around 40 minutes a night and either McInnis or Ollie will be on the floor at PG so in order to get Wagner significant enough time to be effective he and James must be on the floor together in some capacity. 

How Silas gets those to be effective together as part of a unit rather than take turns may determine the Cavaliers playoff hopes in the second half.

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