TORONTO - LeBron James probably conducted his shortest postgame interview of the season, clocking in at just over a minute after Friday's 99-97 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

The Cavaliers were in control for the first 36 minutes until they collapsed in the fourth quarter and were beaten by Kyle Lowry's 43 points. James put it another way. He said they were beaten up mentally.

"When you lose the way we lost, mental mistake after mental mistake, those hurt more than anything when you can play better mentally," he said. "People get so caught up on the physical side of the game. We lack mental right now, and we've got to continue to get better with it."

James was furious with how his team coughed up a nine-point advantage in the final 5:30 and relinquished home-court advantage should the teams finish the season with identical records. With the win, the Raptors took the season series, 2-1.

Adversity created by their own actions were too much for the reigning Eastern Conference champions. A Flagrant 1, a technical foul and bone-headed personal fouls allowed Toronto to score without the clock moving, and the Raptors gained momentum that ultimately got the Air Canada Centre crowd into the game.

"A couple of unfocused plays, not following the game plan and it burned us," James said.

The littlest man on the court out-fought and out-hustled all the Cavaliers.

Holding DeMar DeRozan to 1-for-11 shooting should have made life easier for Kyrie Irving, Matthew Dellavedova and Iman Shumpert in guarding Lowry. He was the only potent offensive threat, and yet he still dominated. Cleveland did not get the ball out of his hands.

Lowry used multiple picks at the top of the key, but he was seldom trapped. The Cavaliers didn't make other guys beat them. Lowry drained the go-ahead step-back winning jumper over Dellavedova with 3.8 seconds remaining.

Again, he was played one-on-one. He scored 28 points in the second half. He showed why he's an All-Star, at the expense of the Cavaliers.

"Down the stretch, Kyle Lowry just took over the game," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. "It's the second time he's done that to us. So going forward, we've got to get somebody who can guard him."

"He just had a hell of a game," James said. "That's what All-Stars do."

With the Raptors up two, James had a chance to deliver his own heroics on the next possession out of a timeout, but shot an air ball as time expired. It was a borderline meltdown completed.

"I got a good look, but that's not why we lost the game," James said.

Shumpert was also asked about Lowry's big night and responded by saying, "He does a good job of getting to the free-throw line." Lowry was 15-of-20 from the field and 11-of-15 from the charity stripe.

Lue was asked if there's a fear the Raptors might have discovered something in the Cavaliers if they are to meet down the road in the postseason.

"I don't fear that," Lue answered.

Who didn't answer was Irving, who was relatively quiet with 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting with one assist in 31 minutes. Lue was forced to go the defensive-offensive substitution route with his star guard during crunch time. Dellavedova got the defensive action.

Irving was mentally taken out of the game.

The only play-maker out there for the Cavaliers was James, and he's visibly being worn down with all of the responsibilities. Toronto not only pounded Cleveland externally, but internally.

After being up by as many as 14 points, Cleveland faltered, then caved.

Center Bismack Biyombo said the Raptors' objective is always to be physical with the Cavaliers, and it worked. It caused them to perform out-of-character, which resulted in mental lapses.

Should these two squads meet in the playoffs, the Cavaliers had better hit the mental weight room. As shown Friday, they need to pump some more iron.