
Shawn Marion's first game as a Raptor showed that there won't be any quick fixes in Toronto.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 22 points, while LeBron James finished with 20 to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 93-76 win in an National Basketball Association match at Air Canada Centre. Cleveland 93, Toronto 76
Joey Graham topped Toronto with 15 points while Marion added 10 in his Toronto debut. Jose Calderon finished with 13 points and Andrea Bargnani added 11 for the 21-35 Raptors, who were missing leading scorer Chris Bosh for the fifth consecutive game.
The Raptors kept pace with the Eastern Conference-leading 41-11 Cavs for much of the first half, before the visitors broke the game open in the third quarter.
James, relatively quiet to that point, poured in 10 points in the quarter and put the Cavs ahead by 17 points on two free throws near the end of the frame. Cleveland led 71-56 with a quarter left to play.
A three-pointer by Anthony Parker early in the fourth pulled Toronto within 11, but that was as close as the Raptors would come much to the dismay of the capacity crowd of 19,800 at ACC.
The game got heated when Raptors' head coach Jay Triano was ejected with five minutes left. Triano was arguing that Parker was fouled by James while shooting a jump shot. Triano, who had to be restrained by assistant coach Mike Evans, received a pair of technicals leading to an automatic ejection.
The game was already out of reach at that point. The Cavs led by as much as 21 points in the dying minutes and cruised to an easy win, sending the Raptors to their first loss in three outings.
The Cavs shot 58 per cent on the night and held Toronto to 37 per cent. Cleveland outrebounded the Raptors 48-32.
With their chances of a post-season appearance dwindling, the Raptors acquired Marion and Marcus Banks in Friday's trade that sent Jermaine O'Neal and Jamario Moon to the Miami Heat.
Marion had the unenviable task of guarding James for most of the night, but fared well in his first appearance and played a game-high 40 minutes. He got the crowd going early when he threw an alley-oop to Parker.