TORONTO _ When LeBron James resorts to coaching during a timeout, this no longer qualifies as a Cavaliers' lull.
Call it a crisis. Call it a dumpster fire.
Whatever the description, the Cavs played so poorly against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night at Air Canada Centre that James took over a huddle in the first half, gesturing emphatically to an assistant coach as his teammates watched. The moment was posted on Twitter by the NBA on TNT.
With an embarrassing 133-99 defeat that marked their worst loss of the season, the Cavs fell for the sixth time in their last eight games, done in by a 16-point second quarter in which they shot 5-of-20 from the field. And they were only two games removed from Saturday's victory in Orlando when they scored a season-high 131 points.
Slipping to 6 { games behind the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference at the midpoint of the season, the Cavs (26-15) fell to 1-3 on their five-game road trip that concludes Friday night in Indiana. The Cavs have not beaten the Pacers in two meetings this season.
Adding to the urgency of the situation is a Martin Luther King Day game against the defending champion Golden State Warriors on Monday at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Raptors (29-11), who assured themselves of their best first-half start in franchise history, were without three-time All-Star guard Kyle Lowry and center/forward Serge Ibaka. Lowry was sidelined with a bruised tailbone, Ibaka suspended one game by the league for fighting in Monday's loss to the Miami Heat.
Those circumstances didn't seem to faze the Raptors, who have won six of their last seven despite playing their third game in four nights. They hit 18 3-pointers, a season-high for 3s allowed by the Cavs.
Sitting out the fourth quarter, James led the Cavs with 26 points, going 9-of-16 from the field, with three rebounds and an assist. Jeff Green added 13 points, Jae Crowder 11 and Kevin Love contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.
Playing seven of their last eight games on the road _ with one more to go _ may be taking its toll on the Cavs, the oldest team in the league. They are 1-6 in those seven.
Whatever the reason, the Cavs were inconsistently consistent. After trailing by 27 points at the half in what had been the worst loss of the season at Minnesota on Monday, they fell behind by 25 against the Raptors after two quarters, even though three-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan had only two points and seven assists.
It marked the first time in James' career that his team had trailed by 20 or more points at the half in consecutive games, according to ESPN Stats and Information.
Tormenting the Cavs were 7-foot center Jonas Valanciunas (15 points, 18 rebounds), ex-Cav C.J. Miles (16 points), guard Fred VanVleet (22 points) and 6-9 Cameroon-born forward Pascal Siakam (14 points, seven rebounds), the 27th overall pick in 2016.
Valanciunas nearly had a double-double in the first quarter, when he totaled nine points and nine rebounds in a little over six minutes because of foul trouble. DeRozan finished the night with 13 points and eight assists in 29 minutes.
At Minnesota, the game was virtually over when the Timberwolves jumped out to a 20-4 lead on the Cavs. On this night, the Cavs were done in by a scoreless stretch of 3:20 in the second quarter when the Raptors went on an 11-0 run to take a 55-34 lead. The advantage stretched to 59-36 as Siakam scored six consecutive points, four of them on dunks.
Isaiah Thomas struggled for the second consecutive game in his comeback from a torn labrum in his right hip. Thomas went 0-for-11 with several attempts blocked before ending the drought with 7:22 left in the third quarter. In the first quarter he was 0-for-6, making him 2-for-18 in that period in his four games, including 0-for-8 on 3-pointers.
Thomas, who will sit out at Indiana because he has not been cleared to play both nights of a back-to-back, finished with four points, two rebounds and three assists, hitting 2-of-15 field goals and 0-for-6 from long range.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue knew his team had slacked off before when opponents were missing key players.
"They're still a good team, they still play hard, the young guys play hard," Lue said in pregame. "They've still got DeRozan, who's averaging (32) points a game over his last (six). We've got to be locked in to what we're doing and be professional."
