CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cavaliers were already down a few stars with LeBron James sitting once again, and of course having Shaquille O’Neal out 6-8 weeks with his injured thumb. But on Monday night when the Cavaliers took on the San Antonio Spurs they found out they would be down yet another piece to their championship puzzle.

Antawn Jamison was that piece that went down with a knee injury during the Cavaliers’ 97-95 victory over the Spurs, notching the teams 50th victory in heart-racing style. Jamison went down with what was called a stiff knee, and couldn’t return. The Cavs had to deal without yet another productive scorer as their offense started to search for answers.

While the offense searched, they eventually found themselves a few players willing to simply put the ball in the basket. The Cavs manged to get six players into double figures Monday night, something they struggled to do in Milwaukee a few nights ago when they got handed an unfortunate loss.

But this time on the offensive end, it was a much different story.

“I thought that offensively we had nice balance. Nobody really had a huge, huge game, but the balance was there.” Said head coach Mike Brown. “We had six different guys in double figures, which was big for us because we needed every point from everybody.”

Antawn Jamison had 17 of those points that the Cavaliers desperately needed before leaving with a knee injury.

“It got to the point where it wasn’t painful, but I couldn’t get into the motion I needed in order to push off the way I need to.” Jamison said of the injury. “I could of played through it if it was that type of game, but needed to take precautions and begin to rehab it.”

Jamison also stated he expects to play Friday night when the Cavs take on the 76ers in Philadelphia.

“After Antawn went out, our guys could’ve dropped their heads,” coach Mike Brown said. “They were pretty resilient and that was good to see.”

Outside of Jamison though, the Cavs finally had some offensive sparks. Jawad Williams had one of his best games as a Cavalier, especially during the third quarter where he went through a period of hitting 3 consecutive jumpers to bring the Cavs back after they trailed by 5 in the early stages of the third. Williams finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds.

The Cavs had some more scoring support from struggling guard Mo Williams. After Williams had a very forgettable night in Milwaukee(3-of-17 from the field), he came out aggressively and scored 17 points for the Cavs in the winning effort while shooting a much more respectable 7-of-16 from the field. Mo also had a career high in rebounds with eight.

“A lot of guys stepped up, collectively we made plays down the stretch,” Williams said. “We did a good job of finding a way.”

Manu Ginobili was the biggest pain in the neck for the Cavs’ defense. Ginobili scored a game-high 38 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Ginobili potentially thought he hit the game tying three-pointer with 15 seconds left on the game clock. However, after review by the officials it was overturned to a two point basket. The same thing happened against the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant when the Lakers lost to the Magic Sunday afternoon in Orlando.

The Spurs ended up getting one last chance to tie the game, but Roger Mason – whom was struggling all night, missed his eight straight shot to give the Cavaliers the ballgame after Anderson Varejao knocked down two free throws to close the Spurs out. Mason finished the contest 1-of-9 from the field.

The Cavs are expecting to have LeBron James, and Antawn Jamison in the lineup Friday night when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers.

Notes: The Cavs welcomed back Daniel Gibson after the guard missed a week of workouts and games due to having his first child…. The Cavs, with the win, now have a 4 game lead over the Lakers for the best record in the NBA. The Cavs also hold the tie-breaker with the Lakers.

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