CLEVELAND (AP) - Cavaliers forward Wally Szczerbiak will play with a protective mask after breaking his nose in Wednesday night's win at New York.
Szczerbiak, who has played multiple positions for the Cavs and started the past two games while Sasha Pavlovic was out with the flu, broke his nose in the third quarter of Cleveland's 107-102 win but continued to play. He finished with 12 points and a season-high 13 rebounds - the second-highest total of his career.Szczerbiak was fitted with the mask on Friday and practiced with it on Saturday as the Cavaliers prepared for their Sunday game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
"I'm going to play him like normal," Cavs coach Mike Brown said. "He should be good to go."
In his last 11 games, Szczerbiak has averaged 9.3 points while playing some shooting guard and both forward spots.
Also, Cavaliers starting guard Delonte West had the cast removed from his broken right wrist. Doctors fitted him with a splint and the Cavaliers expect him to begin practicing after the All-Star break. West broke his wrist in a fall in Chicago on Jan. 2 when he was trying to make a block.
