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James, Cavs spoil Marion's debut with Raptors

Feb 19, 2009 - 3:57 AM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Despite struggling with his shot early on, All-Star LeBron James still helped the Cleveland Cavaliers ruin Shawn Marion's debut with the Toronto Raptors.

James scored 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out nine assists as the Cavaliers posted a 93-76 victory over the Raptors on Wednesday.

In his first game with his new team, Marion collected 10 points with six boards and six assists. Marion was traded by the Miami Heat on Friday for center Jermaine O'Neal.

"It's just a matter of them getting a feel for me and me getting a feel for them," Marion said. "We saw some good things out there and some things we need to work on. Collectively, we were a little tired by the end."

Zydrunas Ilgauskas finished with 22 points and Mo Williams chipped in 17 for Cleveland, which has won six of its last eight contests.

"We knew we had a size advantage with these guys," Ilgauskas said. "They looked for me early in the post and we were able to succeed."

Joey Graham registered 15 points, Jose Calderon had 13 and Andrea Bargnani added 11 for the Raptors, who failed to record a third straight win and continue to be without All-Star forward Chris Bosh.

"It's frustrating, you try so many looks, so many game plans and schemes and none of them worked too well," Graham said. "We fought hard for 48 minutes and gave a lot of effort.

James, who missed his first four shots, had just four points in the first half as the Cavaliers took a 47-41 lead into the break.

"I was just trying to take what the defense gave me," James said. "In the first half, they gave me an opportunity to dish off to my teammates, and in the second half, they closed out on my shooters and I was able to be aggressive and attack the paint."

But James began to heat up after the intermission and Cleveland cruised from there. The 24-year-old had a chance to post his fourth triple-double of the season and 21st career but with the Cavaliers holding a 91-69 advantage, he left the game with 3:11 to play.

"It always starts on the defensive end," James said. "When you get stops, it allows to go out and get easy buckets on the offensive end. They were shorthanded, and we did a good job of not letting the other guys hurt us tonight."

Anderson Varejao pulled down 14 rebounds and Wally Szczerbiak poured in 11 points off the bench for Cleveland.