LeBron James felt there were a few positives to take from Cleveland Cavaliers’ 113-105 loss at Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday.
James finished with a game-high 35 points and 14 rebounds but his efforts were in vain as the Cavs slipped to defeat.
However, they were without key men Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr and Kevin Love due to injury and the Blazers are the form team in the NBA as they went into the match with 10 wins in the bounce.
Portland have beaten champions Golden State Warriors twice during their winning streak and James feels the Cavs competed well against in-form Portland.
“I just loved our approach from the beginning until the end,” said James, as reported by ESPN.
“Obviously, we’re shorthanded and they took advantage of our size. “We gave up 20 second-chance points and offensive rebounds, we played good defense for 24 seconds, but a team like this, that has been playing so well, you can’t give them second-chance points and second opportunities. They make you pay, and they did.”
Cleveland are fourth in the Eastern Conference and just one game behind third-placed Indiana Pacers, while Portland are third in the Western Conference.
Eastern leaders Toronto Raptors are in action on Friday as they head to Dallas Mavericks.
The Raptors are 1.13 to come out on top or 2.00 with a -11.5 handicap.
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