INDEPENDENCE — The Cavaliers have lost five of their last eight games.
They are a pedestrian 9-8 since the blockbuster trade that brought them Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Joe Smith.
They have 10 games left in the regular season, beginning with a game tonight at The Palace of Auburn Hills against the Central Division champion Detroit Pistons.
They are fourth in the Eastern Conference and are unlikely to move up or down, so what is their primary objective between now and the start of the playoffs?
“Get healthy,” center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said Friday after practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts. “Every day it seems like somebody else goes down. For some reason, we can’t shake the injuries. We have to get healthy, more than anything.”
Cavs coach Mike Brown isn’t seriously considering any permanent lineup changes down the stretch, but he may have to alter his starting five again against the Pistons.
Wallace, who has missed the last 21/2 games with back spasms, is listed as questionable for tonight’s game against the franchise he helped win an NBA championship in 2004. If he can’t go, Anderson Varejao will start once again, but the changes may go beyond that.
West, who has started all 17 games at point guard since coming to Cleveland, sprained his right ankle Wednesday in a loss to New Orleans — some might say lightning-quick Hornets point guard Chris Paul broke it a few times — and did not practice the last two days. He is also listed as questionable.
Another guard, Daniel “Boobie” Gibson, who has not played since spraining his ankle on Feb. 20, was expected to return against New Orleans, but ended up not playing. Gibson has practiced the last two days, but there’s a chance he may be held out again tonight.
Gibson, who is listed as questionable on the injury report, said that even if he does play, he’s probably not going to start, which would mean Devin Brown or Damon Jones would likely get the nod alongside Sasha Pavlovic in the backcourt.
Though Gibson, Jones and the struggling Szczerbiak (.345 field-goal percentage since joining the Cavs) are all basically catch-and-shoot types, Mike Brown has no immediate plans to alleviate that logjam off the bench by moving one of those players into the starting lineup on a permanent basis.
“It’s a young backcourt,” he said of normal starters Pavlovic and West. “It’s an athletic backcourt. They’re capable of doing a lot of things.
“I like both those guys starting. Again, that could change at any time.”
If West’s injury results in him missing any significant time, the coach’s hand may be forced, but he’s not thinking that far ahead.
“I’m not afraid to mix and match rotations,” Brown said. “Yeah, I like Delonte as my starting point guard. Yeah, I like Sasha as my starting shooting guard.
“Having said that, that’s not etched in stone. Have we thought about starting Daniel? Yeah. Have we thought about starting Wally? Yeah.”
For the time being, though, the Cavs are more concerned with playing solid defense and giving a consistent effort at all times.
“It’s important for us to go out and play the right way,” Brown said. “If you expect to be the top dog, you can have some bad days, but you can never not give effort.”
That holds true regardless of who’s in uniform, but Ilgauskas is anxious to see how good the Cavs can be once everyone is back and roles are set.
“We realize it’s going to be a lot tougher (in the playoffs) this year,” he said. “We also realize we have some talent. If we get everybody playing, it’s going to be tough to beat us four times (in a best-of-seven series).”

Tip-ins

Shooting guard Richard Hamilton, who is day-to-day with a hip injury, did not play Thursday as Detroit clinched the Central Division with a win over hapless Miami.
• In his last four games, Ilgauskas is averaging 21.3 points on .576 shooting, 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. He now has 5,000 career rebounds, second in franchise history behind Brad Daugherty’s 5,227.
• The Cavs dominated the Pistons 89-73 on March 19 at The Q. LeBron James led the way with 30 points. Detroit shot just .397 from the field.
• The Cavs should be fresh tonight, as it will be just their second game in seven days. Brown gave his players Sunday and Monday off, with practices on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday sandwiched around the New Orleans game.
• Cleveland hosts red-hot Philadelphia, which it could meet in the first round of the playoffs, on Sunday at 6 p.m.
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rickn@ohio.net. 

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