Shaquille O' Neal won't play again during the regular season. Thanks to Glen Davis, the Big Aristotle required surgery on his thumb, and is expected to miss the next 6-8 weeks. Your initial thought might have been one of supreme worry, but there really isn't any reason to stress. Consider the current state of the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers are still the best team in the league. Shaq being forced to sit will open up more minutes for Leon Powe, JJ Hickson, and Varejao. The Cavaliers acquired O'Neal to matchup against Dwight Howard in the playoffs, which the Diesel will be well-rested for. Shaq is almost 38 years old, and the 2 month layoff will allow his body to regenerate so he can give LeBron and the Cavs his best performance when we really need him. O'Neal is still a force in this league, and his field-goal percentage at 57% leads the Cavs.

So Shaq goes down, and the Cavaliers first test was against the mighty New York Knicks on Monday night. This game absolutely confirmed that LeBron won't leave the best team in the league to go to the defense-less Knicks. It's not like the Knicks don't have talent. David Lee, Galinardi, Al Harrington, and more recently the likes of Tracy McGrady. It's more about the culture of losing within the franchise, which has been consistent for many years.

You could have just watched the 1st half and gotten a good feel for the game. The Cavaliers scored 74 points, including a multitude of dunks by LeBron. Anderson Varejao played like a man possessed; He was all over the floor. Delonte played great too. West contributed solid defense, scored 15 points, and had a back-door dunk on Tracy McGrady. Thanks for coming out T-Mac.

JJ Hickson started at the 5 for the first time I can remember. The Cavs went small, and it showed in our ability to get out on the fast-break. The end of the first half demoralized the Knicks, and they had to go into the locker room knowing they weren't coming out of the Q with a win. An underrated statistic in the NBA is the plus/minus of each player every night. Playing against the Knicks helps, but observe the ridiculous plus/minus of the 5 starters.

LeBron - +39
Jamison - +38
Hickson - +28
Parker - +35
Williams - +21

Clearly the Cavs did work. The Knicks never stood a chance, and this was precisely the game the Cavs needed after finding out Superman was out for the rest of the season. "They outclassed us, outmatched us and outplayed us," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. "Obviously, they're a better team than we are." The final score of 124-93 doesn't even do justice to the beatdown that ensued. We were up 40 points at one point.

Which is why LeBron won't leave Cleveland for your crappy, defense-less team. It was made known recently that LeBron filed the paperwork to officially change his number from 23 to 6 next season. His reason is simple; LeBron wants to commemorate Jordan and thinks no one else should wear his number. What's more telling is the timing of this. LeBron didn't need to do this if he wasn't planning on staying in Cleveland. It's common knowledge that when you change teams, you can simply select the jersey you want, you don't have to change your number from your old team. Add it up. Best team in the NBA + looming championship ring in June = LeBron wants to stay in the city he built from the ground-up. LeBron James is underrated