Pregame: Bulls (8-8) at Cavs (4-14)

Time: 8 p.m.; Place: Quicken Loans Arena; TV/Radio: FS Ohio/WTAM, WLEC, WAKR

Injury report: Cavs: Kyrie Irving (wrist) out; Dion Waiters (ankle) out; Bulls: Richard Hamilton (foot) out, Derrick Rose (knee) out.

Officials: Tom Washington, John Goble, Haywoode Workman

Notebook

* Dion Waiters will miss his second consecutive game tonight with his sprained left ankle. Daniel Gibson will start in his place.

* That means the Cavs will have to face one of the best defensive teams in the league without 40 percent of their scoring. It obviously didn't go well against the Pistons, one of the worst teams in the league, which is why coach Byron Scott is shaking up his lineup. Daniel Gibson is in, Omri Casspi is out.

* The Bulls' starting back court is out, too. Derrick Rose has been out all season, while Richard Hamilton is sidelined with a torn plantar fascia in his left foot. 

* There has been some confusion over Anderson Varejao's streak of double-doubles, so let's try to clear it up now: Anderson Varejao is two games shy of Elmore Smith's team record of 11 consecutive double-doubles. Varejao is the first player in Cavs history, however, to grab at least 15 rebounds in nine consecutive games.

* Varejao grabbed a season-low five rebounds the last time he faced Joakim Noah and the Chicago Bulls in the second game of the season. It's one of only three times in 18 games Varejao has been held under 10 rebounds in a game.

* It's too early yet to know if Kyrie Irving can return earlier than expected from his fractured left index finger. Irving has been cleared to do everything except contact drills and was even scrimmaging a couple of Cavs coaches in one-on-one drills after practice Wednesday morning. "I know he's anxious," Scott said. "Like we've always done, we're not going to take any chances. We'll leave it up to the doctors."

* Irving is a little more than halfway through the original four-week prognosis. He will ahve the finger re-examined in the next few days. Scott said Irving will have to get at least one full practice in before he'll put him back in the lineup.

* The rookie hazing continues. Scott gave both Waiters and Tyler Zeller fake baby dolls that they must push in baby carriages. Scott told both of them he wants to see the babies and the strollers at the game tonight. Waiters has a white baby that Scott named "Mary." while Zeller has an African-American baby that Scott named "LaQuisha." I'm completely guessing on the spelling of LaQuisha, because when I asked Scott how to spell it, he said, "I have no idea." Scott said the third rookie, Kevin Jones, will get his baby soon.

* Daniel Gibson first hinted at the idea of babies and baby carriages during the Cavs' long West Coast trip last month, but Scott said this was his idea. "It's just going to give them a little bit more added responsibility," Scott said. "We did that in New Orleans with our rookies. I didn't want these guys to be off the hook."