Cleveland Cavaliers take their lumps in Game 3 against the Raptors

TORONTO – It could have been a historic night for the Cleveland Cavaliers, in search of a record-tying 11th straight win to open the post-season.

And while there was drama aplenty, the Raptors stole the show. Not much went right for Cleveland on the night before an amped-up Air Canada Centre sellout of 20,207.

LeBron James was felled by a teammate’s elbow, Kevin Love was colder than Portage and Main in January and the Cavaliers, who had seemed invincible the last two games, went down to a 99-84 defeat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Cavs, who had beaten Toronto by a combined 50 points in the series’ first two games, were hoping to join the 1989 Lakers and 2001 Lakers in winning their first 11 games of the playoffs. The 2001 Lakers beat Philadelphia to win the championship in five games while the 1989 version was swept by the Detroit Pistons in the final.

How out of kilter were the Cavs?

Star guard Kyrie Irving stuck around after the morning shootaround to get some extra shooting in. He went 3-for-19 when it counted.

“Obviously it didn’t do me any good,” he said with a wry smile.

James, who finished with 24 points, five assists and eight rebounds, fired one pass after another to a teammate who more times than not sent up a clanker.

Irving and Love shot a combined 4-for-28 (14.2 per cent) with Love failing to score for the first 24 minutes 57 seconds. As a team, the Cavaliers shot 35.4 per cent.

“We was unable to knock down shots tonight, but I thought we got shots we wanted,” said coach Tyronn Lue, clearly seeing the glass half-full. “We were open, and we’ll be ready to make them next game.”

With a Raptors playoff-record 26 rebounds, Bismack Biyombo was like a Hoover under the basket.

“Well, when you shoot 35 per cent, there are a lot of rebounds available,” Lue said.

James, who was minus-12 on the night, had an eventful evening.

With his team trailing 60-42 in the third, he went down heavily when an errant elbow hit him in the face. Many, including James, thought it was Toronto’s DeMarre Carroll. Turned out it was teammate Tristan Thompson.

After Biyombo got tangled with Irving, Thompson got in Biyombo’s face and Raptors guard Cory Joseph moved in to intervene. Thompson pushed him away — forgetting momentarily that the two Canadians are fast friends — and as he tried to sweep past Carroll and walk away, his arm hit James.

James went flying backwards, but later denied he was trying to sell the call.

Twitter disagreed, at least in Toronto, with social media awarding the Cleveland star more than a few Oscars for his acting.

James had to be restrained briefly by a teammate in the fourth quarter when he was knocked down driving for the basket by Biyombo, who was assessed a flagrant foul. The big man from the Democratic Republic of Congo waved his arms in disbelief.

James dug into his personal philosophy when asked about trying to avoid retaliation.

“At the end of the day, I’m important to this team,” he said matter-of-factly. “I can’t afford to react in any kind of way that will get me thrown out of a game but I will protect myself.”

He recalled an incident in high school when be broke his wrist after an opponent “low-bridged” him. He says that memory runs through his mind “when I’m being thrown to the ground or if it’s a borderline dirty play.”

Then he quoted Jay-Z’s “Streets is Watching.”

“If I shoot you, then I’m brainless. If you shoot me, you’re famous. What am I to do.”

James and Biyombo did a physical duet all night.

James was giving as good as he got, however, catching the much smaller Kyle Lowry with a hip check in the first half that would have done Scott Stevens proud.

The Cavs lost but went down swinging. Biyombo finished the game on his knees after taking a knock to the family jewels.

Still James made a point of complimenting Toronto for its play in his post-game news conference.

“They played an exceptional game tonight. We didn’t play our game and they made us pay for it.”

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