Coach Mike Brown said James has "some bumps and bruises" and acknowledged that recent injuries to Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut and Toronto's Chris Bosh weighed on his mind. So he decided to rest his superstar.
James is a game-time decision for Friday's matchup with Indiana.
"Yeah, you get worried about it," said Brown, who saw Bosh suffer a facial fracture when the Cavaliers' Antawn Jamison elbowed him on Tuesday. "Obviously, when you see stuff like that, it makes you that much more aware -- especially during that particular time -- of the things that can possibly happen to one of your best players or somebody that plays a lot of minutes for you."
The idea of limiting James' minutes wasn't appealing, either.
"Late in the season, everybody's human," Brown said. "Subconsciously, that person can go into the game thinking, 'OK, I'm only going to play a few minutes so I'm counting the minutes until I come out.' You don't want that to happen because usually that's when injuries do happen.
"Late in the season, I'd rather sit a guy out than play him 15 to 20 minutes of a ballgame because they will try to have the right mindset going in, but sometimes, it may not be there, and can affect how they play the game. Ultimately, it could have something to do with them getting hurt or not when it's all said and done."
James' absence meant the Cavaliers were missing two superstars, with Shaquille O'Neal nursing a badly sprained right thumb. Delonte West also missed his second straight game with lower back spasms.
Sebastian Telfair, however, was active for the first time since the Cavaliers acquired him from the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-team deal. Telfair had been sidelined since Jan. 20, when he injured his groin during a Clippers game against Chicago.
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