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Fatigued Cavs fall to Raptors

Xinhua, November 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cleveland Cavaliers' three-game winning streak ended in their 103-99 loss to Toronto Raptors in NBA action on Wednesday evening.

After starting the season 8-1, head coach David Blatt's team have a record of 3-3 since, for an 11-4 overall record.

"I thought our guys played hard, we ran out of gas," said Blatt following the game. "We have played a lot of games and we seem to be at it every day or every other day. I thought we got tired for obvious reasons."

Blatt's squad were missing four players, including three starters. Guards Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert and Matthew Dellavedova and starting Center Timofey Mozgov all sat out the game due to injuries.

"No excuse to be made, we have to do the job with the guys that are out there," Blatt added.

After trading leads with Toronto throughout the first three quarters, Cleveland took their final lead of the game at 84-82 with 8:58 remaining in the game.

During the next eight minutes, Cleveland shot 3-for-14 from the field, allowing Toronto take a ten-point lead to put the game out of reach.

All-Star forward LeBron James shares the same mentality as coach Blatt and is not using injuries as an excuse.

"It's not an excuse," said James following the game after a 24-point performance. "It's all mindset. It comes from within. You've either got it or you don't."

LeBron believes that the team does have 'it' and will be able to reach the level that got them to the NBA Finals last season.

"We got to play better, and we will, but I don't think we improved tonight," said James. "It's early in the season."

James and his teammates have 67 games remaining in the season before the post-season. Endi