TORONTO: The Cavaliers watched the film from Game 3 and entered Game 4 confident there wasn’t much to fix. They might want to take another look.
That easy path to the NBA Finals just became much, much more difficult.
LeBron James scored 29 points and Kyrie Irving scored 26, but shoddy defense, poor 3-point shooting and an early hole led to the Toronto Raptors’ 105-99 victory Monday night at Air Canada Centre, evening this series at 2-2. Game 5 is Wednesday in Cleveland.
Kyle Lowry scored 35 points for the Raptors and DeMar DeRozan scored 32, nearly doubling the Cavs’ backcourt production of 35 points.
Patrick Patterson and Bismack Biyombo grabbed crucial offensive rebounds in the final two minutes, and the Raptors scored on each second chance. Lowry’s drive and basket coming out of a timeout following Biyombo’s rebound gave the Raptors a 105-99 lead with 22.5 seconds left after a furious Cavs rally in the second half set up a close finish.
The Raptors shot 54 percent, and Kevin Love again struggled badly. For the second time in as many games, Love did not play the fourth quarter. But this time, he stepped on an official’s foot and appeared to turn his ankle late in the third quarter. He hobbled off the floor and to the bench after the quarter ended and did not return.
Love also struggled shooting for the second time in as many games, scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds. He finished 4-of-14 overall and 2-of-7 from behind the 3-point line and went basically two full quarters without a basket.
James insisted prior to Game 4 he had devised his own game plan for himself, but his style of play didn’t look drastically different than it did in any other game of this series. He continued to play through Irving and Love despite Love’s shooting struggles, and he let Irving direct the offense.
Coach Tyronn Lue said after the Game 3 loss he wished he’d call more plays for James when Irving and Love were struggling, but Game 4 seemed to mirror the same problems from Saturday.
Love shot 1-of-6 on 3-pointers in the first quarter and did not even attempt a shot in the second. The Cavs’ defense crumbled, allowing the Raptors to shoot 52 percent in the first half and score 24 points in the paint without attempting a free throw. Regardless of Dwane Casey’s complaints, it was more of an indictment on the Cavs’ windmill defense than it was missed calls. The Raptors were getting to the rim uncontested in the first half.
Lue tried inserting Frye early in the first quarter at center to pull Bismack Biyombo out of the paint, but Biyombo still grabbed eight rebounds in the half and came up with a big block on Love in the third quarter.
The Cavs shot 3-of-14 from behind the 3-point line in the first quarter before slowly moving away from the 3-point line and attacking the lane. They took 27 the rest of the night — including a flurry of desperation 3-pointers late — and ended the night shooting 32 percent (13-of-41) from deep. The magic they displayed shooting 3s against the Atlanta Hawks in the conference semifinals has officially vanished — at least for now.
Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson combined for 17 points in the fourth quarter, including three 3-pointers from Frye to start the fourth. The Cavs scored on 14 consecutive possessions in the second half, taking their first lead with 8:21 to play. There were eight ties and four lead changes the rest of the way.
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.