Cavs' Wallace out 4-6 weeks after breaking leg

HOUSTON -- The Cleveland Cavaliers were already looking to add one more big man for the stretch drive before the NBA playoffs begin. Now, they may have to look for two.

Center Ben Wallace will miss at least a month after suffering a fractured right fibula in the first half of Thursday's 93-74 Rockets victory over the Cavaliers in Toyota Center. The Cavaliers released in a statement Thursday night that Wallace would miss 4-6 weeks.

Wallace will be in a walking boot for the next several weeks, though he said he hoped he could return to the lineup before the playoffs begin in April. The break will not require surgery and an X-ray of the injury showed a small break on the left side of the bone. Wallace will not need screws put in to re-set the bone; if that happened, he would be out for the rest of the season.

"It's broke," a calm Wallace said after the game. "I saw the X-ray. I know what that little white line means on an X-ray. It's broke."

Wallace said the injury occurred on a "freak occurrence" in the second quarter, when he said Rockets center Yao Ming inadvertantly kicked him in the leg as the two were running back up court. Initially, Wallace thought he had injured his calf or bruised a bone in his leg, and play throughout the rest of the second half and into the third quarter. But after Cavaliers trainer Max Benton thought Wallace was "running funny," Wallace came out of the game and went to the locker room.

"I was still able to run on it, jump a little bit," he said. "It was just that first step. Once I got moving, it felt pretty good. I knew it was there. It wasn't killing me. It was hurting me a little bit. But I didn't know it was broke."

The X-ray soon confirmed the severity of the injury, leaving Wallace feeling "busted and disgusted."

It's leaving the Cavaliers shorthanded for the rest of the regular season.

The Cavaliers were involved in talks up until last week's trading deadline, trying to use the expiring contract of forward Wally Szcerbiak to acquire another big man. But despite being involved in talks with Phoenix about both Amar'e Stoudemire and Shaquille O'Neal, and trying to get the Wizards interested in a deal for Antawn Jamison, Cleveland couldn't find a deal that was to its liking. (The Cavs, according to a source, came closest to acquiring small forward Richard Jefferson from the Bucks, but Milwaukee was reluctant to do another deal with Cleveland after trading guard Mo Williams to the Cavs in a three-team last fall.)

Cleveland has also been hoping that veteran big man Joe Smith would be bought out by the Oklahoma City Thunder so that he could become a free agent and sign with the Cavs. Smith was a key member of Cleveland's team in the playoffs after being traded there last year, but Smith was dealt to Oklahoma City last fall in the Williams trade.

Another forward that's out there is veteran Robert Horry, who's in semi-retirement in Houston after winning six rings with the Lakers, Rockets and Spurs. But despite several entreaties from interested teams -- and having, he said, his cell "blowing up" Thursday after the Wallace injury was disclosed, Horry continued to maintain Thursday that he's not interested in playing again.

For now, anyway, Cleveland will have to depend on rookie power forwards J.J. Hickson and Darnell Jackson to help take up the slack from Wallace's injury.

"I haven't had a broken arm, broken leg, or anything major like that since I've been playing the game of basketball," Wallace said. "For it to happen now, it's just tough, man. I'm 34 years old. I don't need any broken bones. That's the last thing I need."