Cavs outplayed again in loss to Toronto

By BRIAN WINDHORST

TORONTO — Facing a busy schedule with little practice time while struggling to find a rhythm, the Cavaliers were hoping to grind out some early wins. That’s looking like it’s going to be tougher than expected.

Again often looking sheepish and uncertain, the Cavs were handed another defeat Wednesday night in a game in which they were rather thoroughly outplayed. This time it was the Toronto Raptors who left their season opener smiling thanks to the Cavs, beating them, 101-91, to drop them to 0-2.

Last season, the team didn’t lose two games in a row until February. Then again the Cavs didn’t lose at home until February last year, either.

Once again a strong effort by LeBron James wasn’t even close to enough and once again the team had moments where the players looked like they’d never met.

James put up his 25th career triple double with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists but he wasn’t at the top of his game, missing 12 of 19 shots and six free throws.

Yet he wasn’t the story. Shaquille O’Neal had a solid game with 12 points and seven rebounds, but his impact was negligible for various reasons. With O’Neal on the floor, the team often had trouble covering one of the Raptors’ young and active big men, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani.

Add that to another miserable offensive night, with the Cavs limping to 35 percent shooting.

“To struggle the way we did at both ends of the floor is going to result in a loss,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “We’re not giving effort all the time and that has to change.”

Mostly the night was defined by the highly-paid big men. When O’Neal was on the floor with Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the twin towers look Brown experimented with for a second consecutive night, the problem was double trouble.

Bargnani was masterful moving in and out. The Cavs’ big men could not stay with the former No. 1 overall pick when he was outside. When the Cavs tried James on him for a stretch, Bargnani took him into the post and scored down there. He finished with 28 points on 11-of-15 shooting, which including two 3-pointers.

Then there was Bosh, with 21 points and 16 rebounds. There were times when the Cavs guarded him effectively with either Anderson Varejao or James, but there were very few times when the Cavs could guard both Bosh and Bargnani at the same time.

Add in Hedo Turkoglu and Jose Calderon creating offense by spinning off pick-and-rolls with Bosh and Bargnani, and the Raptors looked formidable.

“It’s a long season, we know what we have to do,” O’Neal said. “We beat ourselves by not playing with a sense of urgency.”