Cavs win an exhibition game but two key players suffer injuries.
The Cavaliers' Antawn Jamison sprained his knee in the second quarter Thursday night, adding his name to a growing list of injured players.
Pittsburgh -- In an ideal world, Cavaliers coach Byron Scott was hoping to decide on a starting lineup by the sixth pre-season game, which would be Saturday's home game against CSKA Moscow.
That's not going to happen now -- not after losing forward Antawn Jamison and guard Anthony Parker in the Cavs' 106-80 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night before 5,121 fans in Petersen Events Center.
Jamison left with a sprained left knee after hyperextending it with 7:22 left in the second quarter, and Parker left with a sprained right
ring and middle finger at halftime. Neither injury is believed to be serious.
"It's part of the game," Scott said. "We'll deal with it."
Scott still hasn't seen Anderson Varejao (ankle) or Mo Williams (groin) play a game, and it remains to be seen how long Jamison and Parker will be out -- if at all.
But the coach took this latest setback in stride.
"The last couple of preseason games would be good if we could have them," he said after the Cavs improved to 4-1 in the pre-season. "If not, we'll make an adjustment. The biggest thing is to make sure those guys are healthy when Oct. 27 rolls around."
Isn't it difficult to assess what kind of team he has?
"It messes up the continuity a little bit of those guys all playing together, but it doesn't bother me that much," Scott said. "We're still all in a learning process as a team. Some guys learn at a quicker pace than others. We're still learning. We're getting better each day. But it's a process, and we're just going to keep plugging at it."
Jamison did have tendinitis in the knee and missed some time earlier in training camp.
"They're different type of injuries," he said. "That was a bad case of tendinitis. We got that calmed down, and that wasn't a problem. Right now it's just sore in a different part of the knee.
"It's sore now, but if it was a regular season game I probably would have come back and played. It was painful initially, but after that it calmed down and I was able to walk around pretty normal."
Though Jamison wasn't looking forward to the two-hour bus ride back to Cleveland after the game, it sounded as if he didn't want to miss any more time than necessary, although the Cavs surely will take a cautious approach.
"We're getting close to the season," Jamison said." I want to start trying to get into a rhythm, keep my legs the way they feel now. I might give it a go Saturday."
Parker actually hit his right hand on someone's heel early in the game. He shook it repeatedly and tried to play through it. But he had an X-ray at halftime and did not return.
"It's just swollen and sore,"' he said.
Manny Harris started the third quarter for Parker and played the entire second half, finishing with 11 points -- the third straight game he has hit double digits.
"He's 21 years old," Scott said with a smile. "He can play 24 minutes."
The injuries overshadowed a strong performance, even if it did come against what likely will be most of the Spurs bench during the regular season. After playing in Mexico City earlier this week, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich sent Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Richard Jefferson home to rest.
J.J. Hickson led the Cavs with 18 points and nine rebounds, Ramon Sessions had 14 points and six assists and Daniel Gibson added 13 points and six assists. Cleveland's defense limited San Antonio to 37 percent shooting (30 of 81.)