Butler unhappy he's not playing

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

All-Star forward Caron Butler couldn't hide his displeasure one day after having his cast removed and finding out there is no chance for him to help the team in the first round.

"It's sinking in, but it's hard," Butler said. "I'll see what happens. It feels good, but I realize that there's a chance that if I get it hit I could be out another two weeks. Right now it's tough."

Wizards coach Eddie Jordan confirmed the obvious.

"Caron won't play in the first round whether it's four games or seven games," Jordan said. "It's too big of a risk. We'd love to have him, but he won't be with us. We'll wait about 15 days, and then we'll get it re-evaluated."

Jamison in charge

Antawn Jamison will continue to be the first option for the Wizards for however long their playoff run continues.

Jamison, who played all but 2½ minutes in Game 1, recorded team highs in points (28) and rebounds (14) for the Wizards on Sunday. The only other Wizards player to see more time than Jamison was guard Antonio Daniels, who logged 46 minutes.

Jamison, though, said he has no problem carrying the load.

"It's fun; these are the playoffs," Jamison said. "You realize that after this there's nothing left but the rest of the summer. So I like logging the minutes — I feel good."

LeBron gets rest

LeBron James watched the end of Cleveland's practice yesterday at Quicken Loans Arena with a towel on his head and his hands in his cutoff sweatpants. The Cavaliers superstar sat out the practice with a sprained left ankle on orders from coach Mike Brown.

It was a mere precaution. James officially was upgraded to "probable" for tonight's game, but even that is misleading. The franchise player envisions no way he would not play.

Brown said the training staff gave him no limitations on how much he could use James tonight and expects no changes in strategy based on James landing on Etan Thomas' foot in Game 1 on Sunday and rolling the ankle.

James, who was in a jovial mood, was playfully teasing teammates as they were participating in shooting drills. Later James, who has a $90 million sponsorship deal with shoemaker Nike, was asked whether he planned to change shoes because of the injury.

He said he would not.

"If I was wearing Adidas, I probably would have broken my ankle," he said with a smile.