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Pre-game news and notes: Dellavedova will play, Scola starts again

Crossing our fingers that things will be better tonight.

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Greetings from a hotel room in Montreal with very bad WiFi. I’m missing Game 3 live due to a bachelor party for a good, long-time friend that I couldn’t miss, but I’m taking a timeout for the game (and our usual post-game coverage). Along with the festivities, I’m missing Hop Along in Toronto, The Hotelier in Montreal (and geez, is the new Hotelier album ever good), and a friend’s show, Bad Jews (recommend checking it out if you’re in Montreal in the next two weeks), so, needless to say, there are better ways I could be spending my Saturday night than watching a 20-point blowout. So let’s do it for me, OK, Raptors? Because after all, the world revolves around me, as this self-indulgent paragraph would have you believe. And also, you know, 20-point losses suck.

And I actually think the Raptors will be better! Cutting a defeat from 31 to 19 is hardly impressive, but the Raptors were second-quarter Cleveland run from at least making it a game in the second half, and I think they learned some things about themselves and how to attack the matchup in the process. Those changes might not be enough to close the gap entirely, but I thought the Raptors would take one of two at home (on their way to a five-game series loss), and I’m sticking by that. Having said that, I think Monday is the one they take, not Saturday. Just a feeling, I don’t know.

The game tips off at 8:30 p.m. from the Air Canada Centre. ESPN has the game in the U.S., with Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Doris Burke on the call, while Sportsnet has the Canadian broadcast and Sportsnet 590 has radio rights. Ken Mauer, Marc Davis, and Pat Fraher are the officials.

Required reading
Here’s what you need ahead of Game 3, assuming you haven’t been keeping up (and who could blame you?).

*Tamberlyn’s got you covered with the full game preview.
*Kyle Lowry left Game 2 to decompress. Or to use the bathroom. I think it’s safe to say too big a deal is being made of it when Ray Lewis is being asked his opinion on it.
*The Raptors are running out of time in their search for some magic (and we ain’t talkin’ Oladipo).
*Matthew Dellavedova is questionable, as a human and for Game 3.
*I answered some reader questions to try to make heads or tails of the series.

And check this heartfelt piece from Ryan Mourton of Fear the Sword out. Sports can be a powerful thing.

Raptors updates
Jonas Valanciunas (ankle) is believed to be out, and unless the Raptors figure something out soon, his season might be over.

Raptors projected rotation
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, (Delon Wright)
SG: DeMar DeRozan, T.J. Ross, (Norman Powell)
SF: DeMarre Carroll, James Johnson, (Bruno Caboclo)
PF: Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson
C: Bismack Biyombo, (Jason Thompson), (Lucas Nogueira), (Jonas Valanciunas)

I don’t think the rotation itself is going to change too much, and any major changes will be schematic in nature. I did suggest in the mailbag that I think Norman Powell could see some time when the Cavs are smaller as a Kyrie Irving cooler, but he’s played exclusively garbage time in this series. And again, I disagree with starting Luis Scola despite seeing the team’s logic in the move. So long as his shifts remain fairly short, allowing Patrick Patterson to be a little better rested late and to be deployed in more favorable situations early, I’m done being too mad online about it.

I know some want Powell to jump T.J. Ross, but Ross’ shooting is so important for opening up space, and Dwane Casey continues to say positive things about him (and he’s been OK, with the usual Ross ups-and-downs).

Check back before tip off to confirm the starters. UPDATE: Starters are the same.

Cavaliers updates
Matthew Dellavedova (possessed by an evil spirit, ankle) is a game-time decision. The pre-game buzz was more optimistic than that from shootaround earlier or practice on Friday.

UPDATE: Dellavedova is playing.

Cavaliers projected rotation
PG: Kyrie Irving, Matthew Dellavedova, (Mo Williams)
SG: J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, (Dahntay Jones), (Jordan McRae)
SF: LeBron James, Richard Jefferson
PF: Kevin Love, (James Jones)
C: Tristan Thompson, Channing Frye, (Timofey Mozgov), (Sasha Kaun)

If Dellavedova can’t go, the Cavs will probably just shorten their rotation to eight and entrust James or Shumpert with de facto backup point guard duties. Mo Williams can still shoot but I’m not sure the Cavs would want to have such an exploitable defensive guard out there. A Dellavedova absence would also mean no appearance from the James-and-reserves Nu Death Lineup (The Benchnik Termites, as I’m calling them) that’s killed Toronto in two games.

If he can go, the Cavs probably won’t change much, because they won the first two games by a combined 50 points.

Check back for an update on the official starters.

Pre-game news and notes
*Dwane Casey didn’t ask for his Game 2 technical to be rescinded, but it did anyway. Sometimes the closed mouth does get fed!


*One thing people keep asking is why the Raptors haven’t dared James to shoot more (he’s 0-of-5 from outside the paint in the series). The answer, as discussed in the mailbag, is complex, and even if they try, the Cavs will have a response.


*You know it’s a big game when Jimmy Goldstein’s in the house.


Assorted
*Here’s your Game 3 swag update:


*Here’s a reason for additional pride in where the Raptors are right now. It doesn’t mean a ton, necessarily, and any big-picture takeaway would also have to recognize that all four teams have roughly the same amount of salary committed next year (so the Raptors aren’t necessarily in a “better” spot to keep building from), but it’s still cool to appreciate.


*Here’s a really nice quote from Lowry on Rex Kalamian, the well-respected Raptors assistant who interviewed with Houston on Thursday and is a candidate to be plucked even if he doesn’t get the head coaching job there. Players love this dude.

The line
Game 1: Cavaliers -10.5 (Cavaliers 115, Raptors 84)
Game 2: Cavaliers -11.5 (Cavaliers 108, Raptors 89)
Game 3: Cavaliers -5.5
Series: Cavaliers Off the Board

The series line was a -5000 before Game 2, an implied win probability of about 98 percent. Oddsmakers don’t even see the point in giving away literal pennies on the hundreds of dollars now, essentially calling the series as close to done as possible by removing it from the board. The Cavs were initially five-point favorites, only for that line to push half a point (an important half-point, based on my prediction below)

Cavaliers 102, Raptors 97

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