Guard Sasha Pavlovic suffered a sprained right ankle Sunday after landing awkwardly attempting to break up a pass at the end of the first quarter. He missed the rest of the game and is scheduled for an MRI today at the Cleveland Clinic.

Pavlovic also appeared to suffer a contusion to his calf on the play, when he got twisted midair with Los Angeles Lakers guard Trevor Ariza and landed on the leg.

Team doctors are classifying him as day to day until the test results are in.

Pavlovic has a history of foot and ankle trouble, especially recently with his right ankle. This is the third sprain he's dealt with on the ankle since last spring. A mild right ankle sprain he suffered in training camp ended up setting him back for several weeks.

Pavlovic had missed the previous two games with the flu, short-circuiting what had been a month of strong play in the starting lineup in place of the injured Delonte West.

Once again the team is very thin at the shooting guard spot. Without West and Tarence Kinsey, out at least a month with a grade-2 ankle sprain, and now Pavlovic, the burden falls again on Wally Szczerbiak.

Szczerbiak ended up playing most of Pavlovic's minutes, but the limited rotation ended up hurting the Cavs when guarding Kobe Bryant. That task fell on LeBron James for the entire second half. It prevented trying to put James on Lamar Odom, who was hurting the Cavs all over the place.

"We've been trying to get healthy, but we just can't," James said. "Sasha being out definitely hurt us."

West had the cast removed from his fractured right wrist Friday, but it isn't likely he'll be back before the All-Star break, which starts Thursday.

LeBron's reaction: For the first time Sunday, James gave his reaction to having his triple double taken away by the NBA last week - or at least somewhat of a reaction.

"Should I say something? Uh, um, no," James said. "We won the game, that's all that matters."

Masked man: Szczerbiak didn't have any problems playing with the protective mask for the first time after breaking his nose against the Knicks last week. He made 6 of 11 shots, 4-of-5 on 3-pointers, for 16 points. In fact, he liked it in a Russell Crowe sort of way.

"It sort of made me feel like I was in the movie 'Gladiator,' " said Szczerbiak, who named his 11-month old son Maximus after the lead character.

"Ever since I saw that movie, I knew I'd name my son Maximus."

Dribbles: The Lakers did not commit a turnover for the last 19:28 of the game. . . James had 12 assists and just one turnover, the fourth time in his career he's had 10 or more assists and one or no turnovers. . . . The Cavs shot 11-of-23 on 3-pointers and are shooting 46 percent (142-of-310) on 3-pointers over the past 14 games.

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