Cavaliers Haven’t Lost Control, but They’ve Given Raptors Reason to Believe

TORONTO — LeBron James is a man of many and varied talents. Playmaker. Scorer. Leader. Pitchman. On Saturday night, he was a jukebox.

One moment, he was singing a cheesy 1980s pop song. Minutes later, he was quoting a Jay Z lyric.

So, no, the first sign of playoff distress did not seem to be having much of an adverse effect on Cleveland’s multifaceted star, or his Cavaliers compatriots.

A second failure? That might be something else entirely.

The Cavs are undefeated no longer, having been dealt a 99-84 loss by the Toronto Raptors on Saturday, their first setback of the 2016 postseason. Their playoff record is still a dominant 10-1. They remain in command of the Eastern Conference Finals, two games to one. Their return to the NBA Finals is still taken as a given.

Yet Monday night’s Game 4 stands as a minor moment of truth, nonetheless.

To wit: Are the Cavaliers truly the dominant, swaggering team of destiny they appeared to be over the prior five weeks? Are they cohesive and coherent enough to put down this insurrection quickly? Was Saturday’s loss a momentary blip, or a warning sign?

The answers are, in all likelihood: “Yes, “yes” and “blip.” A win Monday night would likely enshrine those beliefs. But a loss? A 2-2 tie? Against a battered and less-talented team? That, as they say, would be different.

It’s fair to wonder about the alternate scenarios, and what it might mean for Cleveland’s title hopes.

These are, after all, the same Cavaliers who staggered through parts of the regular season, who got their coach fired in January and who struggled to find the right balance and chemistry among their stars.

Taken as a snapshot, Saturday night looked more like a Cavaliers game from late winter than early spring.

There was Kyrie Irving, overdribbling and forcing shots. There was Kevin Love, disappearing from the scene. There were the Cavaliers, shrinking from Bismack Biyombo’s physicality, unable to match his vigor or his joyfulness.

And there were the Raptors—their starting center in street clothes, their star point …

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