James’ 35 lead Cavs over Raptors

CLEVELAND — When he entered the NBA 12 years ago, one of LeBron James’ biggest weaknesses was his jump shot. After his clutch 3-pointer in the final minute Tuesday gave the Cleveland Cavaliers their first lead since the first quarter, he tied Mark Price as the franchise leader for 3-pointers in a career with 802.

James scored 35 points, including that crucial 3 with 48 seconds left and the Cavs rallied from a 14-point deficit Tuesday night to beat the Toronto Raptors 105-101 and extend their winning streak to eight games.

“It means I’ve been healthy and my teammates have allowed me to do some pretty good things,” James said of tying the mark. “For a guy who came into the NBA as a non-shooter, I’ve worked on my game a little bit over the years.”

James was already the franchise’s scoring leader before he left for Miami. Now his next 3-pointer will put him alone atop that list, too. The Cavs needed every basket and defensive stop James could give them after the Raptors shot 65 percent in the first half and built a 73-59 lead early in the third quarter.

But the Cavs ratcheted up their defensive intensity in the fourth quarter, the Raptors went cold and the Cavs tied the game at 97 on a 3-pointer from forward Kevin Love with 3:49 left. The Raptors were held to one basket over a five-minute stretch in the fourth quarter while the Cavs outscored them 12-2 to tie the game.

The Cavs dominated the offensive glass in the final minutes, grabbing four offensive rebounds to extend critical possessions. One offensive rebound from forward Tristan Thompson led to James’ game-changing 3-pointer with 48 seconds left, giving the Cavs their first lead since the first quarter.

“If you want to be an elite team, those are the plays you have to make at the end of the game,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “We had some crucial turnovers and crucial rebounds we didn’t get.”

Love had 17 points and nine rebounds, guard Kyrie Irving had 13 points and 10 assists and guard Dion Waiters scored 18 points off the bench for the Cavs, who are enjoying their longest winning streak since the 2009-10 season, which was James’ final year in Cleveland before departing for Miami.

“A lot of these back-to-back games when both teams are traveling and both had tough games the night before, it’s mind over matter and will over wisdom,” Cavs coach David Blatt said. “We came up with some very, very important 50/50 balls. Who wants it more and who’s willing to make that extra effort to get it? And we did at the key time of the game.”

Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas had 18 points and a season-high 15 rebounds, guard Kyle Lowry had 16 points and a season-high 14 assists and forward Terrence Ross had 18 points for the Raptors, who shot just 30 percent in the fourth quarter (6 of 20) to lose to the Cavs for the second time in five nights. These teams have already met three times this season, and the Cavs have won two of the three. The game the Raptors won on Nov. 22 represents the Cavs’ last loss.

Landry Fields made his first start at guard because Casey wanted to match up a little better defensively with James. But no one was stopping him on this night. James went 9 of at the free-throw line, including 5 of 5 in the fourth quarter. The Cavs went 10 of 11 at the line in the fourth, while the Raptors did not even attempt a foul shot.

“We definitely lost this ourselves,” Raptors forward Amir Johnson said. “But the calls were definitely not in our favor at the end.”

NOTES: Raptors G Kyle Lowry leads the league in road scoring, averaging 26.3 points heading into Tuesday’s game. He scored at least 30 points twice this season on the road. … Raptors F Patrick Patterson is 13-for-22 on 3-pointers over his last five games after hitting both of his attempts from long range Tuesday. … Cavaliers F LeBron James apparently broke etiquette when he put his arm around Kate Middleton for pictures after Monday’s game at Brooklyn. A British etiquette expert told the Daily Mail, “Americans are much more tactile than we Brits and this is another example of an American being too touchy feely with British royalty.” James did not speak to reporters prior to Tuesday’s game. … Cleveland G Kyrie Irving began the night one 3-pointer away from tying Damon Jones for eighth all-time in Cavs history. Irving went 1-for-5 from beyond the arc on Tuesday to tie Jones, who is back with the organization in a support role.