TORONTO -- Scribbles in my Cleveland Cavaliers notebook the day after their 99-84 loss on Saturday night to the Toronto Raptors:

1. This is the first real challenge for Tyronn Lue in the playoffs. Only 48 hours earlier, the Cavs rookie coach was being celebrated by his players -- who gave him a water bottle shower. The Cavs were up, 2-0, on Toronto and Lue had just set an NBA record by winning his first 10 playoff games in his first season. Then came Saturday's Game 3 clunker in Toronto, a sobering reminder of what real life is like in the playoffs.



2. If you don't rebound and don't chase down loose balls -- especially on the road -- you lose. That should be the lesson that Lue has for his team as they prepare for Game 4 on Monday night at the Air Canada Centre. The Toronto fans were wild and screaming for most of the night. The Raptors players were desperate and determined, knowing that no team has ever come back from a 0-3 deficit to win a seven-game NBA playoff series.

3. The Cavs were out-rebounded, 54-40. This comes after the Cavs had a 91-61 advantage on the boards in the first two games. So it was about effort. Twenty-six rebounds for Bismack Biyombo? Yes, he can rebound. But 26 rebounds???!!! The entire Cavs starting frontcourt had 20. He had 10 in the first quarter to set the tone.

4. "Early in the game, we were not as physical as we should have been," admitted LeBron James. Lue and the coaches warned the Cavs how Toronto is a different, better, tougher team at home. The Raptors beat the Cavs here twice during the regular season. This should not have been a surprise, but the Cavs seemed overwhelmed by everything from the hustle of the Toronto players to the crowd.

5. Lue said there could be some tactical changes made, but the real story was "effort ... they were more aggressive, more physical."





6. Right after I praised Kevin Love's playoff performance in my weekend Terry's Talkin', Love had one of the worst games that I've ever seen him play. In 29 minutes, he shot 1-of-9 and scored three points. He didn't get to the foul line. The man averaging 11 rebounds per game in the postseason had only four against Toronto last night. Even when he's having an awful night, Love usually rebounds. Not this time.

7. Love told reporters: "I need to be more aggressive. I was a bit passive ... sometimes, it's good to be kicked in the teeth and Toronto did that."

8. Love correctly said most of his shots were short, "and not sure what that's a product of." It seemed the ball came out of his hand very flat, almost as if he was trying to guide the ball to the rim rather than take a natural shot with the ball on his fingertips.

9. This was the first playoff loss for the Cavs Big Three: James, Love and Kyrie Irving. They were 4-0 when they played together last year. Then they won 10 in a row this year. So they are 14-1, but this was a reminder that a team with less talent can beat you in the playoffs when they out-hustle you. If it happens again in Game 4, this series could end up tied and then put some real heat on the Cavs.

10. Irving was a mess. He shot 3-of-19 from the field to score what looked like 13 very painful points. He regressed into some of his dribble-dance moves, controlling the ball as the 24-second clock ticked down. He fired up more shots than any Cavalier. He had only one assist. Opposing point guards Kyle Lowry and Corey Joseph combined for 34 points (13-of-23 shooting) and six assists. Not all of that was against Irving, but much of it happened during his 38 minutes on the court.

11. Irving said he had the wind knocked out of him near the end of the game, and he's OK physically.

12. In 67 minutes, Love and Irving combined to shoot 4-of-28 (2-of-11 on 3-pointers) for 16 points. That's a losing formula.

13. James decided the game can serve a purpose for Love and Irving: "It's good for them ... some adversity."

14. James made an interesting point about the Cavs putting themselves in deep trouble when they were outscored, 33-23, in the second quarter. He mentioned Toronto having only 39 points in the second. But the Cavs scored only 37.

15. The Cavs played a very odd fourth quarter. Lue decided to play James the entire third period. So he rested James for the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. When James did come back into the game, he took only one shot (a miss). He made two free throws for two fourth-quarter points. He was not part of the offense in a quarter where the Cavs were being outscored, 19-14.

16. Lue didn't play Love in the fourth quarter. He went with Channing Frye, who had scored 11 points and was 4-of-4 shooting in the first three periods. But in 10 fourth-quarter minutes, Frye was scoreless and took only one shot. The 6-foot-11 forward also had only one rebound. It's like the passive play was a virus being spread all over the roster.

17. As I went through Canadian customs at Buffalo's Peace Bridge, I told the agent that I was covering the game. He said, "do you think we'll win a game?" I mentioned that I had picked the Cavs to win in six. He said, "I said we'd get swept." Then he told me the officials favor James and let him get away with throwing out a forearm and elbow. He even demonstrated the move, leaning out of his booth. It looked like the whack that Tristan Thompson accidentally gave to James last night.

18. I wanted to get through customs without a debate ... or a long inspection ... so I just listened when he complained about the officials favoring James. But it's obvious Toronto is delivering hard fouls and a couple cheap shots to James. Meanwhile, Toronto coach Dwane Casey was insisting his team is being overlooked by officials: "The same foul on one end has to be the same foul on the other end..."

19. After being 11-of-21 at the free-throw line in the first two games, James was 5-of-7 in Game 3. He scored 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and led the Cavs with eight rebounds and five assists. It was a solid game, but he received no consistent help from anyone except J.R. Smith (22 points, 7-of-16 shooting).

20. When the Cavs study the video of this game, they should be alarmed by the lack of effort. And Lue has to drive home that message.