CHRIS TOMASSON of the Akron Beacon-Journal reports: Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas once again is a candidate for the NBA's
Sixth Man Award. After starting Wednesday against New Jersey, Cavs coach John Lucas decided to bring Ilgauskas off the bench for last night's game against New York. ``I started him, and I didn't like it,'' said Lucas, who had to pull Ilgauskas from the game with 6:27 left when he reached his maximum of 24 minutes (he actually played 25) as he recovers from foot surgery. Lucas also decided not to start Ilgauskas because he wanted to go with a quicker lineup against the athletic Knicks and because the Cavs are playing on back-to-back nights, which means Ilgauskas only has about 40 minutes for the two games. With Ilgauskas, who came off the bench for his first 10 games back before making his first start against the Nets, in reserve, Chris Mihm moved from power forward to center, Jumaine Jones from small to power forward and athletic Ricky Davis was inserted at small forward. Lucas said he had awakened with `'a brainstorm'' earlier this week to start Ilgauskas, and that he ``outsmarted himself.'' But he said there still should be times when Ilgauskas starts later this season. Ilgauskas will be evaluated next week, and Lucas is hoping he can get a few extra minutes for him, although he admits it's a long shot. ``I don't care if I start or not,'' Ilgauskas said. ``Coach just wants me to have more minutes in the second half.''