In a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference Finals, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Toronto Raptors 120-117 in a hard-fought battle at the Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday.

James was one rebound shy of a triple-double (28 points, 14 assists, 9 rebounds) as he registered a season-high in dimes as the defending NBA champions shot an incredible 53 percent from the field. See final scores on ESPN.

With the iconic Oscar Robertson seated at courtside, the four-time MVP put on a show and reminded the basketball world that the Cavaliers were still the team to beat. After the game, Raptors coach Dwane Casey acknowledged the difficulty of coping with the Cavaliers, especially with James running the floor in a point-forward capacity.

"They have that extra point guard on the floor in LeBron. He finds people the normal human being doesn't see," Casey was quoted as saying by ESPN.

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James was ably supported by his fellow All-Stars, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, who had 24 and 19 points respectively. Love had a poor shooting night, going 1/7 from deep, but played lockdown defence while collecting 13 rebounds and rejecting three shots.

Credit to the Raptors, who fought tooth-and-nail for the entirety of the game. They were up by two points with 59 seconds left until a three-pointer from Channing Frye gave the Cavs a one-point lead.

After that clutch three from Frye, the Cavs locked in on defense and held the Raptors scoreless for almost a minute until Kyle Lowry made a layup with 2.8 seconds left in the game.

Frye, in the running for the Sixth Man of the Year award, finished with a season-high tally of 21 points and 3 rebounds. The stretch-4 shot an impressive 5/8 from three-point territory.

For the Raptors, the superstar backcourt duo of Lowry and DeMar DeRozan had 28 and 26 points respectively. However, DeRozan shot a paltry 10/27 from the field and was a -9 during his time on the court. DeRozan, who leads the league in scoring this season (34.0 points per game), couldn't find his rhythm for most of the night, especially when LeBron James took up the task of defending him.

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The Raptors were bolstered by Terrence Ross' 18 points off the bench. But the rest of their second unit couldn't produce the way coach Dwane Casey would have wanted.

The Cavs are now 9-1, their best record after ten games since the 1976-77 season.

After the victory, James was told of Cleveland's feat. But the superstar forward said the ultimate goal was to repeat as champions next June.

"I don't really pay attention to the records. But I do pay attention to the teams we're playing, and what they bring to the table."

Meanwhile, Love said his team was trying to iron out its flaws in the lengthy, 82-game regular season ahead of the playoffs next year.

"We've had certain lapses in our first 10 games that we need to clean up. But we're getting teams' best shots home or away and we'll be a better team for it." the power forward said.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will next face Paul George and the Indiana Pacers in an away game on Wednesday. The Raptors, on the other hand, will host the Golden State Warriors on the same night.

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