Cavaliers sophomore forward Tristan Thompson has really done it this time. He got himself written up in the New York Times, which routinely saves its praise for the scum and lowlife that inhabit the Big Apple.

The feel-good piece by Jim Cavan harkens Cleveland fans back to the days of playoff baseball, Fausto Carmona and Lake Erie midges — which wasn’t as long ago as it feels, but longer ago than we care to admit.

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The funny thing about living in today's society is that we have literally every piece of public knowledge at our fingertips, but we choose to ignore it. Basketball Reference is a phenomenal source for learning about the game and they find ways to improve the site at an alarmingly fast rate. If one would like to know what Terrell Brandon's usage rate was against the Seattle Supersonics was on January 17, 1997, it is a few clicks away. Want to know what Larry Nance's true shooting percentage was against the Golden State Warriors on November 12, 1992? Go nuts.

We also live in an era where we have an unreasonable amount of video available at our fingertips. Let's just say that I want to see Ricky Rubio tell his teammate to "change" his face and to "be happy," it's right there. Current NBA head coach Doug Collins playing Cleveland Cavaliers broadcaster in a game of H-O-R-S-E in 1978? Knock yourself out.

Want to know more about a player on and off the court? Who was the third Australian center to lace up for the Bulls? Luke Schenscher, of course. Then there's El Gigante, AKA Jorge Gonzalez who was a professional wrestler who was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the third round of the 1988 NBA draft. Remember Don Ford? Probably not. He's the guy that the Cavs traded for a first round draft pick for in 1980. That pick, of course, was top overall pick James Worthy.

Then there is Austin Carr. This is a man that was the top overall pick in the 1971 draft. He had a 10 year career in the NBA. Carr, who was a natural-born scorer, averaged 15.4 points per game in his career. Even though he only played 5 minutes in the 1974 all star game, it was still an honor for a Cavalier to be named to the team. Before Carr, only four other members of the franchise had been selected. In other words, he has a long and respectable history of playing on the hardwood but is now thought of primarily as a broadcaster.

As one would hope for a first overall draft pick, Austin Carr entered the league as a promising player. The Cavs selected him because of his ability to score. As a four year collegiate, Carr averaged 34.6 points and 7.3 rebounds on 52.9% shooting. Carr's best year came as a junior when he scored an unheard of 38.1 points per game on a sizzling 55.6% shooting. Perhaps his best moment, Carr scored 61 points in a game against the Ohio University Bobcats on March 7, 1970. The list of players to score more than 60 points in Division I NCAA men's basketball is quite short and the man we affectionately call Mr. Cavalier is on it. Carr is Notre Dame's high scorer with 2,560 points and he holds the highest scoring average in Notre Dame history. Austin Carr's made love to pressure before Stephen Jackson made it trendy. To this day, he holds to scoring record for NCAA Tournament with an average of 41.3 points per game. His career scoring average of 34.6 points per game is the second highest in NCAA history.

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When the Cavaliers started the game giving up an 11-0 run to the Washington Wizards, it felt like it was going to be a long night in Cleveland. The Cavs are an improved team in the past few years, but their penchant for starting out flat and being behind is a concern. Byron Scott had enough when he substituted four players after only 2:06 of the game had progressed. The addition of CJ Miles, Luke Walton, Marreese Speights and Wayne Ellington was just what Cleveland needed. The bench plus Shaun Livingston proceeded to immediately go on a a much-needed 8-0 run.

The Cavs were without Kyrie Irving for the first game after he suffered a sprained left shoulder against the Raptors on Sunday. Shaun Livingston made the start in his place and once again delivered. Livingston scored 12 points and had 6 assists in 31 minutes of play. Livingston is the type of veteran that a young team like the Cavs can use. He was quite good from a leadership perspective. There was one point where he was playing off the ball and directing traffic after a play broke down. It is quite the nice welcome after the "veteran leadership" of Antawn Jamison on the young Cavs.

The Wizards did lose the game, but John Wall should not be blamed. Wall had a strong performance. He finished wtih 27 points, 14 assists and 7 rebounds. He was hampered with foul trouble through much of the game. Before the third quarter ended, Wall had 4 fouls. Despite that, he played over 10 minutes in the fourth quarter and had 10 points on 4-6 shooting.

The Cavs led the game 91-80 with 3:14 remaining in the game, but a 10-3 run by the Wizards made it a game down the stretch. A kay play came late in the fourth quarter when Shaun Livingston won a jumpball against Nene. It was simply meant to be Cleveland's night after that happened. Livingston, who is 6'7" and absolutely destroyed his knee on that fateful night in 2007 was able to beat 6'11" Nene on that play.

This win put the Cavs at a record of 22-40. In previous years, a lot of people would be panicking about the implications a meaningless win like this could have in the lottery. After their loss, the Wizards are 20-40. This is a different year and the circumstances are different. This victory did not come at the hands of Antawn Jamison, Anthony Parker and Ramon Sessions. They were consummate professionals in the locker room and on the floor at times, but they were never part of the future for the team. The Cavs were able to come back from a big deficit because of guys like Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters. It did take the bench to stop the bleeding early, but Waiters' 20 points and Thompson's double-double were imperative.

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The Cleveland Cavaliers announced on Monday that point guard Kyrie Irving will be shut down for three to four weeks with an AC sprain in his shoulder.

Are there any Cavs fans who are surprised?

Irving was injured Sunday night when he ran into Toronto's Jonas Valanciunas. After making one of the two ensuing free throws, he left the game for good.

After playing just 11 games at Duke, Irving missed 15 games last season, has already missed 14 games this season, and broke his hand over the summer after slamming it into a wall during practice.

In the short run, the Cavs plans for Irving should be pretty easy - with only five weeks left in the season, they should shut him down for the rest of the year. With the Cavs looking to maximize their draft position rather than battling for a playoff spot, there is little reason to bring Irving back this season just so he can play for a week.

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