How Will Shaqs Thumb Injury Factor in the Race For Home-Court Advantage?
Even though the Lakers and Cavs are only separated by one game in the standings, the Cavs virtually have a two-game lead in light of the fact that they won both regular season meetings between the two. The Cavs are expected to be without O’Neal for the next eight weeks and won’t be able to re-sign Zydrunas Ilgauskas until March 22. If that’s the case, the Cavs can expect to be without Ilgauskas for the next 11 games. Lucky for them, there aren’t many challenging games during that stretch. In fact, the entire month of March doesn’t pose much of a challenge for the Cavs. With the exception of potential trap games at Milwaukee and at New Orleans, the only games that should worry Cavs fans are road games at Chicago and San Antonio, and a date at home with the Celtics (if you still consider them a challenge). While both teams have 22 games left heading into Monday night, the Lakers play 14 on the road while the Cavs only have 10 of those away from home. You could make the case that the Lake
