Branson Wright of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Cavs coach John Lucas has finally found a way to cut back on Ricky Davis? minutes. Davis was benched in the first quarter of last night?s 95-75 loss to Indiana Pacers and never returned.

Lucas said last week that he wanted to limit Davis? time on the floor. Through the first seven games of the season, Davis had averaged over 40 minutes. He was sent to the bench with six minutes remaining against the Pacers and did not see action for the rest of the first half. In fact he never came out of the locker room for the second half.

The blowup reportedly started during an heated on-court discussion between Davis and Cavs guard Bimbo Coles in the first quarter. Lucas then replaced Davis with Milt Palacio during a timeout. Coles would not comment on the exchange between himself and Davis. Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said whatever happened in the locker room would stay in the locker room. Lucas, meanwhile, said he just decided not to play Davis.

"I just wanted to go another way," Lucas said. "When the game got out of hand, it gave us an opportunity to play and look at some of our young guys."

Davis did not return to the court with his teammates after half time. Immediately after the game, Davis slipped past the media and out of the locker room. He was escorted to the team bus by several members of the Conseco Fieldhouse security.