Elton Brand practiced without contact on Monday, and still expects to be able to play Wednesday when the Cavaliers come to town.

“As long as it goes well with contact tomorrow I’m out there,” he said. “It’s not 100 percent, but it feels good enough to play for me.”

It’s not a serious injury, not like the Achilles tendon tear he had last year. By this time of the year, almost every player is icing or heating something before, after or during a game.

“If you’re gonna play a lot of minutes, everybody has something,” Brand said. “It’s one of those somethings. I know my body. It’s not an Achilles or something huge like that so I should be able to play.”

As for the team itself, which is 9-12 with a home-and-home with the formidable Cavs coming up, Brand said its trying to stay upbeat.

“We have a good group of guys,” he said. “I still feel like guys are positive. The guys had a good practice today, practiced hard, intense. Andre Miller, who’s known as the quiet guy, was talking. He’s trying to rev the guys up. They’ve been down before. Last year we could see that and they knew how to fight themselves out of it. I think there’s a similar feeling right now and I’m a part of it.”