Raptors drop Cavs to 0-2
10/29/2009TORONTO - Andrea Bargnani scored 28 points, Chris Bosh had 21 points and 16 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors overcame LeBron James' 25th career triple-double to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 101-91 last night.
James had 23 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds, but Cleveland opened its season with consecutive losses for the first time since an 0-3 start in 2004-05. James scored 38 points in Tuesday's 95-89 home loss to Boston.
Mo Williams scored 16 points and Shaquille O'Neal had 12 for Cleveland, which had won five straight over Toronto and nine of 10.
Hedo Turkoglu scored 12 points in his Raptors debut and Marco Belinelli had 10. Jose Calderon had 11 assists for Toronto.
Trailing 78-71 to start the fourth, Cleveland coach Mike Brown left James on the bench and Toronto took advantage, outscoring the Cavaliers 9-3 and building an 87-74 lead by the time James returned with 8:40 remaining.
Even with James back, Cleveland struggled to cut into the lead. A pair of free throws by Williams and a 3-pointer by Gibson cut it to 93-83 with 4:06 left, but Antoine Wright answered with a 3-pointer for Toronto.
James wasn't done, making one free throw, then following up a miss from the line with a 3-pointer from the top to cut it to 96-90 with 1:37 left.
Toronto guard Jarrett Jack stopped the run with a free throw and, after James made one more from the line, Turkoglu made a free throw and Calderon converted a three-point play.
Bargnani had 13 points in the first while James was held to just three, making one of three shots, as Toronto led 27-22.
Belinelli had 10 points, Bargnani scored eight more and the Raptors shot 10 for 17 in the second as the Cavaliers stumbled, going just 6 for 22. Toronto closed the second on a 16-7 run and led 57-39 at the break.
James made four of Cleveland's six shots in the second and had 14 points at the half.
It was Toronto's turn to go cold in the third, as the Raptors shot 5 for 15.
LOS ANGELES - Blake Griffin, the NBA's No. 1 overall draft pick, will be out for up to six weeks with the stress fracture, likely delaying his debut until mid-December - and creating one more reason to believe there's a curse on Los Angeles Clippers.
"It's disappointing, especially when it happened, but I'm not going to feel sorry for myself," Griffin said. "Everybody plays with a certain amount of pain, but it is a fine line, because you do want to take care of your body and make it easier on yourself."
The former Oklahoma star won't be allowed back into practice until his fracture has healed in several weeks.