TORONTO: Kyrie Irving walked off the court and crouched down like a catcher along the baseline early in the fourth quarter Friday. Tired and battered, it was one of the few times on this night Irving was left all alone.
The winning streak is gone, replaced by a taste of adversity the Cavs have yet to face in these playoffs. LeBron James had 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but Irving and Kevin Love both struggled through miserable shooting nights in a 99-84 loss to the Toronto Raptors, their first of this postseason.
The Cavs now lead their Eastern Conference finals series 2-1, with a pivotal Game 4 Monday night at Air Canada Centre. The Cavs won 10 in a row to open the postseason, falling one shy of the NBA record done twice by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Irving was swarmed under by the Raptors’ defense, rarely getting a clean look at the basket on his way to a poor 3-of-19 shooting night. He scored 13 points and Love had three points and four rebounds. His only basket was a 3-pointer early in the second half on a 1-of-9 shooting night.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey insisted his team wouldn’t quit despite losing the first two games in this series by a combined 50 points. Then his players went out and proved him correct. DeMar DeRozan scored 32 points in his finest game of this series, Kyle Lowry had 20 points despite foul trouble and Bismack Biyombo set a franchise record with 26 rebounds — the most by any player in this postseason and the most in the Raptors’ postseason history.
The Cavs’ lackadaisical effort that flared too many times during the regular season resurfaced for the first time in these playoffs. The Raptors beat them to loose balls, they were outrebounded 54-50 after controlling the boards through the first two games and the Raptors led by 13 at halftime.
Lowry left the game with three fouls and eight minutes remaining in the first half and the Raptors ahead 38-32. They widened the gap without him, increasing the lead to 18 late in the half before the Cavs closed with two throws by Irving and a 3-pointer from James.
They pulled within seven in the second half, but ultimately led for less than a minute the entire night in a game the Raptors dominated at home. It was the first time the Cavs were held under 100 points in this postseason.
Biyombo’s physical play and brash talk has caused a couple of confrontations in this series and caused two more Friday. He went nose-to-nose with Tristan Thompson in the first half, prompting Cory Joseph, Thompson’s childhood friend, to step in.
Thompson pushed him away, then swung his arm wildly leaving the skirmish. It caught James in the jaw and dropped him to the ground — although James’ acting skills on the play looked admirable. Regardless, it was the Cavs’ best shot of the night that really connected — and of course, it was friendly fire.
Biyombo was whistled for a flagrant late in the game when he collared James around the neck with his left arm and hit him on the side of the head with his right. James has complained multiple times in this postseason he is being officiated unfairly and that time got the call.
It mattered little. James made both free throws to trim the deficit to 91-79 with 3:20 left, but Irving missed a 3-pointer with a chance to cut the deficit to single digits. The Raptors sailed in the final few minutes.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.