ue out on his own, he continued, before stumbling, appearing

CLEVELAND - As the old saying goes, if you play with fire, youre going to get burned. Dwane Casey, who has used the phrase as a cautionary tale after lethargic starts of the recent past, came just short of saying I told you so Tuesday evening. His team had been getting away with it, far more often than any team should. Yes, theyre a resilient bunch and that was the case again in Cleveland as they clawed back from a 21-point deficit - even taking a brief fourth-quarter lead - but its been masking the underlying issue. Theyre an open-faced sandwich, missing the top bun. "You cant play in this league that way and expect to come back each and every night," Casey said after Torontos 102-100 loss to the Cavaliers. "Its bit us more than weve won, it feels like." "Until we fix that, among us, among ourselves, then its going to be an uphill battle every night." For the second time in three days, the Raptors trailed by nine after the first quarter, allowing another team with a losing record, also missing their best player, to shoot above 52 per cent to open the game. The start was eerily similar to Sundays, at home to Atlanta, lacking effort, focus and purpose on both ends of the floor. Even without injured point guard Kyrie Irving, Cleveland killed the visiting Raptors with speed and precision, exposing a reoccurring hole in their interior defence by darting into the paint at will. The comeback was inevitable. Its what they do. Down by 21 early in the third, Toronto staged a 21-9 run to close out the quarter. Kyle Lowry - running back and forth from the locker room all night, battling an upset stomach - scored half of his team-high 22 points in the frame. Greivis Vasquez would give the Raptors their first lead since the opening minutes, draining a three-pointer midway through the fourth before reality set in. "I think everybodys energy was low from having to come back," Lowry said. From that moment on they hit just one of their final 10 shots and on the last possession, down only two, they failed to even get one off. It was a play they had just run with success. Amir Johnson was looking for Lowry to turn the corner, but he was cut off. Instead, Vasquez took the handoff and, trying to spin right, towards the bucket, he lost his footing. "It was me going to my weak hand and I lost my balance, stepped kind of weird," said Vasquez, who scored 16 points of Torontos bench. "I turned the ball over. Ill take responsibility. Im not going to run away. Im a man." A noble gesture but, as Casey pointed out, its not the reason for the loss. "Thats not the game-decider," the Raptors coach said. "The game was decided the way we approached the first quarter." "Its easy to get up for OKC, its easy to get up for Miami, its easy to get up for Indiana but the teams that are not in the playoff picture, they are playing for something, too," he continued. "Theyre playing for pride, which is probably a little bit more dangerous than guys trying to save minutes and save themselves for the playoffs." Theres a lesson to be learned from this loss and it shouldnt take long to figure out whether or not its been absorbed. The Raptors - now the Easts fourth seed, leapfrogged by the Bulls with Tuesdays defeat - will travel to Boston in the second night of a back-to-back and first game of a home-and-home set with the Celtics, another scrappy team looking to play spoiler. "Weve got to get the mindset of being the hunter instead of the hunted because," Casey added. "Thats how we got where we are, being a desperate team, a hungry team and not believing the press clippings or where we are in the standings." Birthday blues Although Lowry would have preferred to celebrate his 28th birthday with a win, the Raptors point guard recorded his 18th double-double with 10 assists to go along with his 22 points. Lowry extended his career-high streak of 19 or more points to 10 games and also became the first Raptor to score 20-plus in eight straight since Chris Bosh did so in 2010. Amir passes VC on blocks list With his third-quarter swat on Spencer Hawes, Johnson recorded his 416th block as a member of the Raptors, passing Vince Carter for second on the teams all-time block shots list. Johnson, who had 12 points and nine rebounds on Tuesday, still has a ways to go to catch Bosh, topping the franchise list with 600 blocks. Patterson nearing a return Patrick Patterson, who has missed 10 straight games with an ulnar collateral sprain in his right elbow, was reassessed on Monday and is headlong well, the team revealed before Tuesdays game in Cleveland. Although hes been cleared for contact, theres still no timetable for his return to game action. "Its a lot up to the medical staff and when they feel he can go," Casey said. "Its one of those things where if he gets hit in the wrong way it could be trouble for a lot longer so thats why they want to make sure its well enough." The stat The Raptors fell just short of matching their largest comeback of the season. They last overcame a 21-point deficit in their home win over Dallas on Jan. 22. Toronto hasnt had multiple wins in which theyve trailed by 20 or more points in the same season since 2004-05. The quote "Weve just got to understand what were playing for," Vasquez said. "Weve got a big one tomorrow [in Boston]. Its a must-win because were actually playing for something. If you dont get up for that youve got to get your gas up. Weve just got to be motivated, man. This is crunch time. This is important for us. Tomorrows a must-win, no matter what. No excuses." Tim Tebow Jersey . Edmonton opened the season with 14 straight victories before falling Friday night 10-8 to the host Colorado Mammoth in National Lacrosse League action. David Wright Mets Jersey . The first baseman hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to lead the Mets to a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. http://www.metssale.com/mets-brandon-nimmo-jersey/. Kadri was dressed in a green jersey at Thursdays practice and skated as an extra forward on the teams fourth line as the Leafs. Adeiny Hechavarria Mets Jersey . -- Masahiro Tanaka knows that first appearance in a spring training game for the New York Yankees will be scrutinized. Gregor Blanco Jersey . The Wild, playing their first game since leading scorer Mikko Koivu broke his ankle Saturday at Washington, have won three straight for the first time since Nov. 1-5. Koivu underwent surgery on Monday and is expected to miss at least four weeks.CLEVELAND - No player in the NBA, and perhaps in league history, can disrupt an opposing game plan quite like LeBron James. Dwane Caseys pre-game audible, opting to dust off the sparingly used Landry Fields and insert him into the starting lineup, came as mild surprise, but perhaps it shouldnt have been so shocking given the imposing force he was tasked with guarding. He is who we thought he was, Casey said of James, who had a game-high 35 points in the Cavaliers comeback victory over Toronto on Tuesday. Its not a surprise. Hes one of the best players in the league, or the best player, arguably. So he did what he was supposed to do. I thought we had him under control most of the night. Fields, with the assistance of James Johnson, had James under control, as much as one can possibly have him under control, until the fourth quarter. The Raptors had led by as many as 14 point on the night, 10 points early in the final frame before Cleveland clamped down on defence and James started making big plays on both ends of the floor. Toronto shot 30 per cent from the field, hitting one of six three-point attempts and scoring just 13 points while James poured in 10 of his own, including the go-ahead trey with 48 seconds left. They had entered the game with the NBAs best fourth-quarter point differential. The loss snapped their streak of 39 consecutive wins when leading after three quarters. I thought our guys battled, fought, controlled the game for most of the game but youve got to close it out, Casey said - his team had squandered a 17-point advantage to Denver the night prior before stealing a win in overtime. Thats where weve got to get better. We had some crucial turnovers, crucial rebounds that we didnt get at the end of the game and thats the name of the game. When youre playing playoff basketball and youre trying to be an elite team youve got to be able to make those plays and tonight we didnt. Their series with the Cavs has certainly had a playoff feel, in part because the two teams have seen each other three times in 18 days, an unusual wrinkle in the NBAs regular season schedule. The Raptors won the first meeting in Cleveland on Nov. 22 and the Cavs havent lost a game since - winners of eight in a row. In Fridays rematch, LeBron and company handed Toronto its most lopsided defeat of the campaign. This time around, Casey pulled out all the stops, hence the late lineup change, and it nearly paid off. He nearly let the cat out of the bag. One guy cant guard [LeBron James], Casey said ahead of Tuesdays rubber match. Youre going to have to have a team concept. That one guy guarding him has to be disciplined and work within what were trying to do as a team. He cant go rogue out on his own, he continued, before stumbling, appearing to misplace the name of Terrence Ross. So whoever guards him, whether its James [Johnson], or... or... or... Terrence?, I suggested. Terrence, thank you... Or whoever guards him has to be disciplined in what theyre doing and not go rogue. This has been a frequent dilemma for Casey - unwaveringly honest as a man, it paints him to lie, but understandably guarded as a head coach. How much should he reveal to the media when he addresses them 90 minutes ahead of tip-off, knowing whatever information he discloses - injuries, lineup changes - will be leaked on Twitter in the blink of an eye, becoming available to the opposition? Hes not required to give anything away until he fills out his lineup card just before the game. So when hes asked about his roster or rotation he smirks a mischievous smirk. He knows the question is coming. If hes feeling generous he may evven throw the assembled media a bone and volunteer some intel unprompted.dddddddddddd He cant tell a lie. On this night, he didnt have to. Nobody asked, not directly, so he kept it to himself. An unlikely ace in the hole, something he used in the playoffs last spring when Fields stepped in to stymie Joe Johnson and the Nets in Game 2. Honestly, I just wanted to make things difficult, to kind of switch it up on [James], make him think about me more than anything else, said Fields, who found out he was making the spot start earlier in the day during a late afternoon walkthrough. It didnt go so well if you look at the stat sheet. He still played well and they ended up winning but that was just my whole mindset going in. Despite the result, Casey made the right call. Greivis Vasquez had started five straight games in place of the injured DeMar DeRozan but was under the weather and limited in his return to the bench on Tuesday. Terrence Ross, a promising but inexperienced defender giving up size and strength to James, had more ups than downs against the four-time MVP in the first two meetings. Johnson was re-acquired for match-ups like this one, but got caught up in a one-on-one battle with James in Toronto on Friday. What Fields lacks in athleticism, in comparison to Johnson, he makes up for in discipline, which was a prerequisite as Casey outlined before the game. Hes a smart player, moves well without the ball, knows his limitations on both ends of the floor and operates within them. By the end of the first quarter he had logged 11 minutes, exactly half his total through the teams first 21 games of the campaign. Entering Tuesdays contest, Fields appeared in just six games, playing less than a minute in two of them. But he was effective and helped Toronto get off to a 33- 26 lead, converting both of his looks near the basket and making James work on the other end. It can be tough, said the five-year vet, who hadnt played since mid-November. When I found out [about the start] it was a lot of emotions and thoughts went through my mind but, honestly, I went back to the room and prayed on it, kind of mellowed out, got here, shot the ball well and was doing well in warm ups. Fields made a couple of emergency starts last season - the first coming a year ago Monday when he stepped in for Rudy Gay against the Lakers, the night the trade was consummated. He made his last start on Mar. 2. Replacing the injured Terrence Ross, he was effective in a win over the Warriors, hitting four of his five shots and grabbing six rebounds in 25 minutes. Starting Fields allowed Casey to go back to his regular rotation off the bench, although Vasquez was limited to just 12 minutes. It also took some pressure off Ross as a defender, allowing him to thrive on the offensive end, where he put up a team-high 18 points. Johnson was also effective, particularly off the bench. But neither he nor Fields could solve the problem that was LeBron James down the stretch. He makes it tough for you because hes seen everything, Casey had said before the game. Whatever you throw at him multiple times hell exploit it. And thats why he is who he is. Hes arguably the best player in the league and probably the most cerebral player in the league when it comes to reading situations on both sides of the ball. That makes it difficult. But he puts his pants on like we do and his jersey on one arm at a time, I think. He didnt sound too sure, and with good reason. After stumbling out of the gate, the new-look Cavs have found their way and with James playing MVP-level basketball, yet again, that should hardly come as a surprise. ' ' '