LeBron leads Cavs past winless Raptors

James shot 9-for-17 and added six assists for the Cavaliers, who snapped a two-game skid.

"We came in here and we executed offensively and defensively and got a win," said James.

Drew Gooden had 12 points and 10 boards, and Donyell Marshall had 12 points and 11 rebounds against his former team for Cleveland, which outrebounded Toronto, 47-30.

"We’re still learning day-by-day," said Cleveland head coach Mike Brown. "We’re still learning a little bit at a time. Defensively we had some stretches where we played pretty good, but the biggest thing for me is this team and the Toronto Raptors. They (Toronto) are a very good transition team, they like to force the tempo and I though we did a nice job of controlling the tempo and not letting it really get to a rat-race game."

Chris Bosh had 26 points and 12 rebounds, and Mike James added 17 points and six assists for the Raptors, who have lost four in a row to start the season.

"It’s frustrating, but four games, we just have to find some way to win," said Bosh. "We are not taking much solace out of anything. We are just disappointed with the four losses and how we played in a couple of them."

The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 7-0 lead thanks to the Raptors missing their first four shots. However, Toronto found its scoring touch and tallied eight straight points, capped off by a Bosh slam to make the score 8-7 with 7:20 left in the first quarter.

Toronto led by three points with 1:15 left in the opening 12 minutes, but Marshall hit a three-pointer with 47 seconds left and the score was tied 24-24 going into the second quarter.

Cleveland went on a 15-4 run to start the second 12 minutes and led 39-28 when Marshall drained a three-pointer with 7:40 to play in the half.

Toronto got as close as four points when Bosh nailed a jump shot to make it 43-39 with 4:45 left, but could not close the gap and Cleveland went into the intermission with a 51-45 lead.

The Cavaliers got the first six points of the third quarter and had a 57-45 lead after LeBron James nailed a jump shot two minutes into the second half.

The Raptors cut the Cavaliers’ lead to seven points when Mike James hit a jumper to make it 67-60 with less than three minutes to play in the period, but the Cavaliers outscored them 7-4 in the final minutes of the third and went into the last stanza ahead by 10 points, 74-64.

Toronto got within seven points early in the fourth quarter after Bosh put a layup in to cut Cleveland’s lead to 74-67. Cleveland went on an 11-2 run with Damon Jones putting in a three-pointer and two free throws, and Larry Hughes nailing two free throws to give Cleveland an 85-69 cushion with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation.

LeBron James gave the Cavaliers their largest lead of the night with a slam from the right side to make the score 99-80 with a little over three minutes left.

The Raptors finished the game with a 7-0 run, but it was too little too late.

Game Notes

Toronto has had at least one three-point field goal in 536 games, the longest current streak in the NBA...This is the first time the Raptors have started a season 0-4...Toronto has been outscored by an average of 14 points and have been outrebounded 194-148 in the four losses...Bosh has two double-doubles this year...Cleveland leads the all-time series, 22-19, and has won three of its last four at Toronto.