NOTEBOOK | From & quot;The Q & quot;

Spurs looming: The Cavaliers got a break from the schedule-makers on opening night, playing a young Hornets team coming off a home win against Sacramento. The upcoming schedule isn't as nice. Cleveland will play three straight road games, starting with Friday's game at defending champion San Antonio. "I'll be honest, I don't want to ever see San Antonio unless it's in the finals," said Cavaliers coach Mike Brown. Added LeBron James, "It's going to be a great test."
Good bench: One of the main things Cleveland GM Danny Ferry tried to address in the offseason was the team's weak bench, which forced James to play extensive minutes last year. The early signs are encouraging -- the Cavaliers got 49 points from its reserves in Wednesday's win, including 18 from Donyell Marshall and 12 from Damon Jones. "It means a lot," James, who played 33 minutes, said. "There were times I came out today and I was not looking over at the coach saying, 'When are you going to put me back in?' I know the guys are going to hold down the fort until I get back in."
Defense, defense, defense: Cleveland held the Hornets to 41 percent shooting from the field. Brown's goal is for the Cavs to hold teams under 20 points each quarter. They succeeded in three of the four quarters. "We did a great job of coming across on defense, trapping the box and getting charges," James said. "Even [Zydrunas Ilgauskas] took a charge today. I don't know if he's ever done that. You guys have a [statistic] for everything, so somebody has to find that out for me."
Home away from home: Because of Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets will play home games this season in Oklahoma City, not New Orleans. Most observers expect little from the Hornets this season, although their opening win over the Kings raised some eyebrows. Wednesday's loss brought them back to earth. "We weren't ready to play," Hornets coach Byron Scott said. "[Cleveland] is a very good team and if you come in and start the game off slow, you're going to get your head handed to you."
Addressing the dress code: In honor of the NBA's new dress code requiring players to wear dress clothes on the sidelines, the Cavaliers mascot Moondog was dressed in a suit for the early part of the game. When P.A. announcer Ronnie Duncan told him the dress code was just for the players, he stripped down to a Cavs uniform with a big gold necklace. Then, he stripped down to tighty-whities and ran off the court. By the way, NBA commissioner David Stern was in the stands.
Good marketing: The Cavaliers' arena has a new name -- Quicken Loans Arena or "The Q" -- and the team has also renamed the nose-bleed seats in the upper bowl "Loudville." (Apparently, "Tissue Town" wouldn't have sent the right message.) Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert changed the name from "Gund Arena" after buying the team from owner Gordon Gund last year.
Joe Scalzo