Photo: AP/Nathan Denette

Schedule makers didn't do the Cavaliers any favors, but right now, they're not doing themselves any favors either. The Cavaliers on their first back-to-back came out with very little energy, and never recovered from the second quarter surge of the Raptors that pushed their lead to as much as 20. The pressure and panic ratchets up a notch now as the Cavaliers are 0-2 with glaring negatives outweighing the positives in the early going.

Bargnani Blitzkrieg: For everyone wondering why on earth Toronto selected Andrea Bargnani with the number one overall pick back in 2007, tonight is Exhibit A. The 7-foot Italian was feeling it from all over in the Air Canada Centre. He hit several jumpshots, and then when the Cavaliers changed defenders, he used his size advantage inside to get a couple of cheap buckets. In all, Bargnani scored 28 on a super-efficient 11-of-15 shooting and added five rebounds. Most of the damage he inflicted came in the first half with 21 of his 28 coming in the first two quarters. Bargnani is a poor rebounder and defender, but if he can display an offensive arsenal like tonight, then he'll be successful in the league and in Toronto's system.

Defensive Woes: It wasn't just Bargnani's shooting that was troubling the Cavaliers, however. Facing two of his tougher matchups in the NBA the last two nights, Mo Williams struggled with keeping Jose Calderon out of the middle of the lane. Calderon did his job well tonight, getting dribble penetration and kicking to shooters or dumping it down to Chris Bosh. The Toronto point had 11 assists in all, despite being just 1-of-6 from the field for five points. One of the pillars of the Cavalier defensive plan is to keep everything out of the middle of the floor. When they don't accomplish that goal, it can really ugly and fast. The 45 percent that Toronto shot from the field tonight might not jump out at you, but watching the way the Raptors basically got what they wanted for two-thirds of the game is disheartening.

Toronto Transition Game: In the past with Calderon, the Raptors have tried to be a running team. They continued that style tonight, and at times it just looked like the Raptors were putting more effort in getting down the floor. The Cavaliers got caught with Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaquille O'Neal in there together, and Toronto ran it down the Cavaliers' throats until they had to pull one of them.

Second Unit Change: I want to thank Mike Brown for making one of my suggestions happen tonight. When LeBron went to the bench to start the second quarter, he went with a lineup of Mo Williams, Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and, yes, Shaquille O'Neal. I said in last night's article that it's foolish not to have O'Neal in there when LeBron's taking a breather as it's a great opportunity to run the offense through him and get him some baskets. It's similar to last season when Brown made sure to keep Mo Williams (and later Delonte West) out on the floor when LBJ took his break. The team ended up getting burned by it tonight, but that's because this is one of the teams in the league where playing these two isn't going to work very well. When that happens, they can bring Z in a little earlier to make sure Shaq has a breather before he checks in to start the second quarter. That way, you keep only one of them on the floor.

2nd Half Lineup Change: You could tell that Coach Brown was not pleased with Anderson Varejao's first half effort, because he started the second half by going small and inserting Daniel Gibson into the lineup. Varejao missed four early shots tonight, and he was not influencing things on the defensive end like he is known to do.

3rd Quarter Surge: Sparked by the smaller lineup, the Cavaliers got things going on the offensive end of the floor. But, as this team philosophy clearly states, everything begins on the defensive end. As the Cavaliers racked up stops, the offense ran through LeBron with him finding shooting help in Mo Williams, who was non-existent with 1-of-7 shooting in the first half, Daniel Gibson, and Anthony Parker. The wine and gold hit five treys in all during the quarter, and they used a 30-12 run to tie the game at 69 with 2:22 to go in the third. When Shaq picked up his fourth foul, the unit on the floor went to Williams, Gibson, Parker, James, and Varejao. During the most enjoyable stretch of the night for Cavs' fans, Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were nowhere to be found. That's not something that makes me feel too good about "together, the best center in the league" according to Shaq.

Cleveland got even, then Toronto was leavin': If you've watched NBA basketball for any length of time, you know that teams often can overcome 15-20 point deficits, but rarely do they end up winning the game. The reason is they exert far too much effort in making the comeback to push all the way through to take and hold the lead. Once they tied it at 69, the Cavaliers looked like they hit that wall. Toronto went on a 9-2 run to finish the quarter, and it was a 24-9 run before it was over as the Raptors pushed it back out to a fifteen point lead.

LBJ Break: He can't play 48 minutes a night, especially not in the second game of the regular season. Consequently, the Cavs had to rest LeBron at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter just after they had gotten even with Toronto. As LeBron sat from 30 seconds left in the third to 8:40 remaining in the fourth, the hole increased from 5 to 13. Part of me wanted MB to go back to him earlier in the fourth or even play him straight through, but the Cavaliers have bigger goals in mind, and it's really not worth burning LeBron out in October. It was a back-to-back on top of things and he racked up 85 minutes in those two nights, finishing with just under 40 tonight. The Cavaliers have to show they can weather the storm without LBJ for a few minutes each half, or they will continue to drop regular season games that they should not. Mike Brown explained after the game that he has to show faith and confidence in the rest of the team, and nothing shows he has none like throwing LeBron back out there on minimal rest.

These aren't your daddy's Raptors: The Cavaliers should have won this game; there's no doubt in my mind that they just didn't put forth the effort necessary. But, this Toronto Raptors team looks like they may be playing more than 82 games this season. With Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu, who had a relatively quiet night with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists, they have two very solid scorers. Calderon is a nice point guard, and if they get contributions like they did tonight from Andrea Bargnani, they have a good bench with Amir Johnson, Jarrett Jack, Marco Belinelli, and Antoine Wright. Belinelli really gave them a spark in the second quarter with 10 points. Here's hoping that this team isn't our first round opponent.

The little things: Above all, the Cavaliers didn't do the little things right tonight. They missed 13 free throws and had 14 turnovers. The frontcourt of Shaq, Z, Varejao, and Hickson had just 19 points and 18 rebounds. Hickson played just six minutes, and he has failed to carry over the strides he appeared to have made in the preseason. J.J.'s play is making everyone subconsciously think, "When does Leon Powe get back?"

Offensive execution (or lack thereof): Offensive execution is still very difficult. The Cavaliers are running the same plays, but with different lineups out there, people are in different spots or are being asked to do different things. It's going to take more than a few games for this to shake out, and until it does, the Cavs may drop a few more they shouldn't, which is why I do not think they'll finish with the best record in the East. It's clear that the Cavaliers are still battling with having to commit to feeding a low post presence like Shaq, and while it will be great when things get rolling, it's a tough thing to watch right now. Especially disappointing is that Shaq has failed to get many buckets in the fourth quarters of either game. Early on he has some success, but he has to be able to score in crunch time as well.

Two things I hate to say are that a) John Kuester is dearly missed and b) Delonte West's offensive skills are missed just as much as he defensive skills. Delonte has the will to stick with the offense and not just look to give LeBron the ball back as fast as possible. At times, he was much more effective than Mo at starting the offense, and for a lot of the season, he really was the point while Mo was the shooting guard. As for losing Coach Kuester, Mike Malone needs to take the reins as the new offensive coordinator and stop the LBJ 1-on-5 show before it really gets bad.

goes to: Daniel Gibson. Depsite LBJ's triple-double effort of 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists, I'm giving the game ball to Boobie, because he gave the team a big boost in the small ball lineup and helped get them back in the game with some key threes. LeBron also shot just 7-of-19 and had four turnovers, plus we could give it to LeBron almost any night. In 34 minutes, Gibson was 4-of-10 from the field (4-of-8 from three) for 12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal.

Team Grade: D

Shooting just 35 percent when your opponent shoots 45 percent is a recipe for disaster; so is committing 14 turnovers and missing too many free throws. This offense needs to continually move the ball and avoid stagnancy, or it will prevent offensive rebounds and lead to run-outs for the other team. It starts with defense, though, and right now, protecting the paint is a difficult task for Cleveland.

The search for win number one continues Friday night in Minnesota against the T-Wolves.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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