TORONTO - LeBron James led the Cavaliers on what arguably was their best, most important stretch of basketball this season.

And it wasn't enough to steal Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

James paced Cleveland with 29 points and played a playoffs-high 46 minutes, but the Cavaliers fell 105-99 to the Toronto Raptors Monday night, evening the series at two with Game 5 set for Wednesday at The Q.

James is still looking for at least one road win in his 25th consecutive playoff series, and he'll get another chance. There will be a Game 6 here at the Air Canada Centre on Friday night.

Who will have the advantage in this series by that point is unclear.

James, who said before the game he had a "plan" for Game 4 "personally that I believe will benefit our team," was 11-of-16 from the field with nine rebounds and six assists.

It's hard to say precisely what James' secret, personal game plan was, outside of playing more minutes. Perhaps it had something to do with watching the Cavs dig another enormous hole in the game, and this time leading them on a charge that nearly took back the game.

Cleveland trailed by as many as 18 in the third quarter and were still down eight when J.R. Smith missed a 3-pointer at 1:21 of the period.

James never left the quarter, and the Cavs scored on their next 14 possessions. He caught an alley-oop from Matthew Dellavedova with 8:56 left to trim the deficit to one, and his layup on the next trip gave Cleveland its first lead.

There's no official name for it yet, but the Cavs' second lineup with Dellavedova, Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson, Iman Shumpert, and James proved brilliant once again in the fourth.

Frye made three of his four 3-pointers late in the third and into the fourth. When Kyrie Irving (26 points) returned with 6:40 left, the Cavs trailed 90-89. James found Jefferson on a pretty pass for a dunk, and then scored or assisted on Cleveland's next six points.

And just like that, the brilliance was over. The Cavs' last field goal over the game's 4:52 was a desperation 3 by Irving with 2:00 left. James missed a layup and committed a turnover.

James has scored at least 20 points in 22 consecutive playoff games, but hasn't registered a 30-point game over his last 12 - a career long. It would've taken one for the Cavs to take this game, or, perhaps more so, something other than a dreadful second quarter by the entire team for the second consecutive game.

Cleveland was outscored by 13 points - by a count of 30-17 -- in the second quarter Monday night, and by 10 in the same period of Game 3.

James tied Magic Johnson (190 playoff games) for 12th in league history in postseason games played.