"I understand and respect the process that he's been through and I'll be just as happy when the record is accomplished," he said.

Brown probably wishes he could have a do-over, because if he had to do it all over again, he would have played Ilgauskas against the Mavericks. Brown went small against the Mavs for matchup purposes. And, for reasons known only to himself, he stayed that way. It caused quite a maelstrom on the shores of Lake Erie. A source said Ilgauskas was so distraught at halftime, he told an assistant coach to inform Brown that he didn't want to play in the second half. Ilgauskas is still quite upset and hurt by his coach's actions. He had friends and family at the game and was probably embarrassed when he didn't play.

CAVS 107, SUNS 90: On a night that belonged to "Z", the Cavaliers showed a glimpse of just how well they could play. Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas became the team's all-time leader in games played, as the Cavs steamrolled the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena. Ilgauskas entered the game -- finally -- with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter. The 20,562 fans gave him a standing ovation.

There was no fanfare or any plaques, per his request. He spoke after the game, but didn't take any questions. It was obvious that he's still hurting over coach Mike Brown's decision to bench him for the entire game on Saturday against Dallas.

Almost brushed aside because of the controversy surrounding Ilgauskas was the tremendous first half by the Cavs. They stormed out to a 57-29 advantage at the intermission against a team that had the best record in the NBA at the beginning of the week.

"We're still not as good as we want to be," Cavs forward LeBron James said. "You don't want to be great in November and December."

The Cavs (13-5) have now won 10 of their last 12 games. They held the league's highest-scoring team to under 30 points in the first half. The last time the Suns scored 29 or fewer points in any half was Feb. 6, 2002, at Seattle.

"Defensively, we were very good in the first half," Brown said. "We trusted one another and our effort was there. You're not going to hold them down for 48 minutes.

"We communicated. We were flying around. It was awesome to watch. We let it get away from us a little in the second half."

The Suns recovered and scored 61 points in the second half, but by then it was too late.

"We dug such a hole (in the first half), we were never, ever really a threat," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "It was an uphill battle from there."

They held the Suns to 29 percent shooting in the first half, 40 percent for the game. They also dominated the boards, 51-41.

Ilgauskas paced the Cavs with 14 points and six rebounds. Seven players scored in double-figures, including the entire starting five. In all, 10 players scored eight or more points. LeBron James flirted with a triple-double with 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.