Last Friday, James suffered a strain in his biceps area on his upper right arm in a scramble for the Basketball with New Orleans Hornets center Tyson Chandler. It still is affecting him, despite some rest and treatments with ice and electric stimulation.

"I'm feeling it; any time I extend [the arm], it hurts all the way up," James said. "It's not an excuse, but as a shooter and a playmaker, it can hurt you."

James has been wearing a support sleeve on the arm during games and practices. Before Wednesday's game against the Portland Trail Blazers, he changed his routine by going out for a hard warm-up about an hour before tipoff to help his muscles get loose.

"I'm trying to get through it," James said. "I'm trying to get it back right."

Making a plea: Though there's no doubt they care and pay attention to such things, outwardly the Cavs rarely petition for any sort of award recognition. Cavs coach Mike Brown, though, recently has broken from this rule to start campaigning for his players to get some notice for their defense.

Two seasons ago, when the Cavs made the NBA Finals, Brown was privately stung when not one of his players got a vote for the All-Defensive Teams. Especially since those are voted on by coaches. Last season, James got one vote for first team and two votes for second team, and that was it.

This season, the Cavs have ranked among the league leaders in total defense, and James' steals and blocks have jumped.

"Not getting those votes, to me, that is a problem," Brown said. "Nobody gets individual recognition, even though we've been near the top of the rankings in points allowed and defensive field-goal percentage. I feel our guys deserve recognition."

It is starting to work. Stories have started popping up in newspapers across the country, and television analysts are focusing on the Cavs' and James' defense.

All-Star watch: There was a significant shift in rankings when the Cavs lost to the Lakers on Monday.

The Orlando Magic slipped past the Cavs for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, which doesn't have much meaning for playoff seeding in January, but it does impact All-Star Weekend.

Brown is in contention to be named Eastern Conference All-Star coach with the Magic's Stan Van Gundy. Because he coached the team last year, the Celtics' Doc Rivers is ineligible. The coach with the best record Feb. 1 automatically earns the honor.

If Brown is able to earn the spot, he would be the first coach in franchise history to do so and the second-youngest in NBA history.

More record ratings: The Cavs-Lakers game was the most-watched regular-season game on cable in the NBA since James' first career game in 2003.

The 2.3 national rating meant more than 3.6 million viewers. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tripleheader on TNT saw a 76 percent increase in viewers from last season.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: bwindhorst@plaind.com, 216-999-5166