Cleveland ? LeBron James’ injured finger passed the required practice test. It’s game time.

James, who has missed Cleveland’s past five games – all losses – with a sprained left index finger, is expected to be back in the lineup tonight when the Cavaliers host the Indiana Pacers.

Following practice Monday, James said the finger had improved and that he didn’t have any problems after two days of contact. The Cavs’ megastar was confident that he would dress for the Pacers.

“We’re going to leave it as a game-time decision,” he said. “I’ve been through two contact practices OK. We’ll see what happens.”

James has been wearing a protective glove over the knuckle on his finger, which was injured on Nov. 28 when Detroit forward Nazr Mohammed whacked his hand while he was driving for a shot in a loss to the Pistons.

“It’s better than it was a week and half ago,” James said. “The pain is going away little by little. It’s not 100 percent at all right now and it probably won’t be until the offseason, and I don’t have an offseason until 2009.”

He will play for the United States in the Beijing Olympics this summer.

James, the NBA’s leading scorer who was playing some of the best ball of his career when he got hurt, was surprised the Cavs played so poorly without him.

“Offensively not as much, but defensively we struggled,” he said. “You have mental lapses offensively, but you can’t have those defensively no matter who is playing.”