Zydrunas Ilgauskas has not said a word about not playing against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night, when he was expected to set the Cavaliers record for games played at 724.

He is much too good of a teammate to complain publicly. He has accepted his demotion from the starting lineup and tried to do what he can to help his team win while now playing behind Shaquille O’Neal. He continues to exhibit the tireless work ethic that enabled him to overcome a myriad of health problems early in his career to become the team’s leader in rebounds and blocked shots and, one of these days, games played. He has said that’s the record that really matters to him.

But his actions since coach Mike Brown held him out Saturday in what is believed to be the only “did not play – coach’s decision” of his 11-year career speak loudly.

James and Brown said they had not talked to Ilgauskas since Saturday. Brown, who will ultimately be judged on wins and losses, said he had planned to play Ilgauskas his usual 20-25 minutes and that if he had it to do over again, he’d make sure that he did. But when the Mavericks went small, so did the Cavs and that small lineup responded with what was arguably the team’s best game of the season.

That was not a good enough explanation for James, who is especially close to Ilgauskas, the only player on the team who has been here James’ entire career.

“He’s been everything to this franchise and has given everything in his 14 years since he’s been here. For him to have an accomplishment like that – I’m not saying it’s taken away, because it still can happen — but for it to be that day and for it to be a special day that it was going to happen. … I don’t know how I would react, but I can understand if he doesn’t want to talk right now or he’s upset. Like I said, I’m behind Z in everything that goes on.”

Brown declined to say whether Ilgauskas would start or play Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns, and he seemed to take James’ criticism in stride.

“That’s fine,” Brown said of James’ comments. “It’s not the only time he or anybody else on my team has been upset with me. It’s all part of being a head coach. You’ve got to take the good with the bad. Everybody’s going to have an opinion of you. You just keep on moving forward.”