Raps Collapse Against King James’ Cavs
Posted January 6, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Either the Raptors gave away Sunday’s game, or LeBron James simply took it, but either way Sunday’s final favoured the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 93-90 win over Toronto.
James scored 24 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter Sunday, erasing a game-long Raptors lead and slapping the home side with another frustrating loss in front of Air Canada Centre fans.
Chris Bosh scored 23 points to lead the Raptors, who blew a 20-point lead in their second consecutive loss. Anthony Parker added 20 points and nine rebounds while Jose Calderon had 16 points and 11 assists. After Sunday’s game, both teams sit at 17-17.
The Raptors led for most of the afternoon Sunday and appeared headed for one of their most solid performances of the season, with a 70-57 heading into the fourth quarter. But James had other ideas, and with four minutes left the Cavs led and never really looked back.
Toronto came out of the gates on fire, shooting a blazing 62 per cent and built up their biggest first-quarter lead of the season at 28-14.
Parker had probably his best game of the season at both ends of the court. Assigned the tough task of guarding James, he pestered the Cavs star all afternoon, holding him to 14-for-29 shooting that included a couple of air balls and a pair of missed dunks.
The Raptors and Cavs split their two previous meetings this season, each team winning at home. Toronto hosts Philadelphia on Wednesday and then heads to New York for the Knicks on Friday.
