Before tonight, the Cleveland Cavaliers have shown life about twice over the past couple of months. It’s been a tough ride fo the Cavs and anytime they kept a game even remotely close, it’s been something of a moral victory.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the league’s best teams, but lately they’ve struggled and have dropped some games they shouldn’t have lost. Still, you’d think the Cavs would be no match for the defending champs.

Apparently not! With Cavs reseve guard Ramon Sessions coming off the bench to shoot 9-of-16 for 32 points, eight assists and three steals, the underdogs won, toppling the Lakers 104-99 even with starting point guard Mo Williams only playing a bit more than three minutes.

The Cavs got 19 points and 10 rebounds from Antawn Jamison, 18 points and nine assists from Anthony Parker, and 13 points with 15 rebounds from center J.J. Hickson. As a team they shot 47.1 percent.

The Lakers as a team shot just 42.5% and committed 19 turnovers. Kobe Bryant was the main problem here, shooting just 8-of-24 for 17 points and 12 rebounds, but just two assists with seven turnovers. The team did get 30 points and 20 rebounds from Pau Gasol. Derek Fisher stepped up to score 19 on just 12 shots. But no one else was particularly good.

Count this as a high point in an incredibly tough Cavaliers season.

The AP reports:

The Minnesota Timberwolves are shutting down point guard Jonny Flynn for the next week, hoping it will help his recovery from major hip surgery.

Flynn was inactive against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. He also will likely miss back-to-back games coming out of the All-Star break on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on his left shoulder today, which revealed a left shoulder subluxation.  Gay will begin rehab in one week and be re-evaluated in four weeks.

The 6-8, 240-pound forward originally suffered the injury in last night’s 102-91 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers when he was fouled with 5:31 remaining in the second quarter.

Currently in his fifth NBA season, Gay is averaging 19.8 points and 6.2 rebounds while posting career highs in assists (2.8), steals (1.69, 9th in the NBA), blocks (1.07), field goal percentage (.471), three-point field goal percentage (.396), free throw percentage (.805) and minutes (39.9, 2nd).  The 24-year-old holds career averages of 17.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists on .457 shooting in 36.0 minutes, playing in 372 of a possible 385 games.

By Jeff Lenchiner

I arrived Tuesday night in Los Angeles for 2011 NBA All-Star weekend. (Yeah. I’m a bit early. If you experienced New York City’s extra cold winter these last two months, you’d leave early for California, too.)

Nothing crazy here, but I figured I’d capture the first All Star-related store display I saw in the airport. You always remember your first. Here it is:

Also, the outdoor support beams that keep Los Angeles airport (LAX) from falling onto people’s heads have been customized to promote the big weekend. This is from right outside the airport near the baggage claim area:

There’s at least one huge long row of these things. Here’s the other side of that same beam:

Marc Berman of the New York Post reports (via blog):

Isiah Thomas did not deny he was unofficially consulting with Knicks owner James Dolan on the Carmelo Anthony situation and suggested standing pat won’t win a championship.

“Everyone agrees they need to keep improving to get to a championship level,” Thomas said of the Knicks on Miami radio Tuesday. “I don’t think anyone’s saying, ‘This is it.’ I do think the organization wants to improve to get better and get to the next to level.

“But for me to speculate on this Carmelo situation, I just don’t think it would be proper to insert myself in such a public way knowing what I know.”

Thomas added, “In order to get to a championship level, which every team aspires to get to, you try to get the best players and try to get as many as you possibly can and see if you can win it.”

Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

Michael Redd has experienced the agony of an anterior cruciate ligament tear not once but twice in a 12-month period.

And now, 13 months after tearing up his left knee for a second time, the Milwaukee Bucks guard is ready to return.

Bucks general manager John Hammond confirmed Tuesday that Redd would be back with the team Monday for the team’s first practice after the NBA all-star break.

The Bucks are not expecting Redd, who ranks fourth on the team’s all-time scoring list, to make a startling impact in the final two months of the season. But they are glad to have him back.

“Just as he did last off-season, he has worked so very hard to get himself in a position where he can return,” Hammond said. “When he arrives Monday he’ll go through the next step in the process.

“He will continue to do his rehab. He will be on the floor with some individual skill work. From that point, then how soon can he progress to doing more basketball-related movements? And from that point, how soon can he progress to actually being able to practice?”

Charlotte Bobcats General Manager Rod Higgins announced today that the team has extended the contract of Paul Silas through the 2011-12 season and removed the interim tag, effective immediately.  Silas becomes the fourth head coach in team history.

Silas was named Interim Head Coach on Dec. 22 and has guided the Bobcats back into playoff contention with a 15-13 record, highlighted by a 109-89 win over the Lakers on Feb. 14, a franchise-record 22-point comeback on Feb. 12 at Atlanta, a 94-89 victory over defending Eastern Conference Champion Boston on Feb. 7 and a pair of wins over Chicago.

“This team has made great strides in the eight weeks since Paul has taken over,” Higgins said.  “Under his leadership we have seen our team play with confidence, enthusiasm and pride.  He and his staff have helped make our young players better and have gotten positive contributions out of every player on our roster.  Just as we were confident eight weeks ago that he was the right choice to lead this team for the remainder of this season, we are confident that he is the right choice to lead this club into the future.”

Currently in his 11th season as an NBA head coach, Silas has a career record of 370-413 with the Clippers (1980-83), Hornets (1999-2003), Cavaliers (2003-05) and Bobcats. He also spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach for the Hornets, Knicks, Nets and Suns.

During his four-plus seasons as head coach of the Hornets, Silas compiled a 208-155 (.573) record and led the team to the playoffs in each of his four full seasons.  He remains the team’s all-time leader in coaching wins and ranks second in winning percentage.  Silas was named interim head coach of the Hornets on March 7, 1999, and led the team to a 22-13 record over the final 35 games of the 1998-99 season after replacing Dave Cowens.

A 16-year NBA veteran, Silas averaged 9.4 points and 9.9 rebounds in 1,254 career games for the Hawks, Suns, Celtics, Nuggets and SuperSonics.  He was a two-time All-Star (1972 and 1975) and won three NBA Championships (1974 and 1976 with Boston and 1979 with Seattle).  Silas currently ranks 19th on the NBA’s career lists for rebounds (12,357) and games played (1,254).

The Miami HEAT announced today that center Dexter Pittman underwent successful right knee debridement surgery. The surgery was performed by HEAT team physician Dr. Harlan Selesnick at Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables. He will begin rehabilitation immediately and is expected to miss five-to-six weeks of action.

Pittman, in his second stint with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA Development League, was medically recalled after injuring his right knee in Saturday night’s contest against the Idaho Stampede on February 12. He was assigned to the HEAT’s D-League affiliate on January 6 and appeared in 14 games (all starts) and averaged 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.78 blocks and 1.2 assists while shooting 49.7 percent from the field. He recorded two 20-point games and posted five double-doubles, including a team-high 20 points and a team-high 12 rebounds vs. New Mexico on January 21. He led the team in blocks seven times, rebounds five times and points on four occasions.

Pittman, named to the 2011 NBA Development League All-Star Team, has now appeared in 22 NBA D-League games (all starts) with the Skyforce averaging 14.5 points 8.2 rebounds, 1.73 blocks and 1.2 assists while shooting 53.6 percent from the field.