The Cleveland Cavaliers are in town for an awesome Friday night showdown between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. It’s kind of a big deal, even if the team doesn’t want to admit as much, and it tips off at 7:30 on Sportsnet One.
How is this not the early game of the ESPN doubleheader? That’s a good question. Not that Atlanta-Chicago, with a resurgent Derrick Rose (if he plays), is a bad game by any means, and the league probably doesn’t want stations flexing games, but a lot of fans are going to miss out on what should be a terrific game. You can check out Tamberlyn’s full game preview here, by the way.
For the third time in three meetings, neither side will have their full squad. That might be the preference of the respective coaches, anyway, who won’t want to show their full hands just in case a playoff matchup does take place.
Cavaliers updates
Cleveland could be a little thin in the backcourt on Friday night. Mo Williams didn’t travel with the team due to a knee issue and Iman Shumpert is a game-time decision due to a nagging shoulder injury.
UPDATE: Shumpert’s playing
Their rotation will lean big-heavy, then, which probably means less LeBron James at the four.
PG: Irving, Dellavedova
SG: Smith, Shumpert, Jones
SF: James, Jefferson
PF: Love, Frye
C: Thompson, Mozgov, Kaun
Raptors updates
DeMarre Carroll misses a second consecutive meeting opposite James and Bruno Caboclo is off D-Leaguing.
PG: Lowry, Joseph, Wright
SG: DeRozan, Ross, Powell
SF: Johnson
PF: Scola, Patterson, Bennett
C: Valanciunas, Biyombo, Nogueira
By the way, I wrote earlier for Sportsnet about why the Raptors should change their starting lineup and why they probably won’t.
I’d have quotes but Dwane Casey got stuck in traffic and had to push back his media availability.
The line
The Raptors are 2.5-point underdogs, a bit of a bump from the opening Cavaliers -1.5 line. Given the roughly three points the home team’s normally given, this suggests a neutral game would favor the Cavs by five or six points. Cause for rage at everyone sleeping on the Raptors? Maybe, but it feels like a pretty sharp line – I’d be disappointed if this one wasn’t really close.
I’ll take the Raptors, because I don’t want to be run off my own site for picking against them (and because I think they and the ACC faithful will really be up for the game, perhaps more so than the Cavs).
Raptors 102, Cavaliers 100
The stakes
As a reminder, the Raptors would move within two games of the Cavs with a victory and own the tiebreaker for East seeding. A loss would put them four games back and without the tiebreaker, essentially ending their pursuit of the top seed.
There’s also a bunch of intangible stuff to take from the game, if you’re the type. And you should be, because how often do the second-place Raptors get to play a meaningful game against the lone team ahead of them? Go nuts!
And have a great weekend.
