The Toronto Raptors have a big opportunity on their hands Friday night, with the Cleveland Cavaliers visiting for a game being televised on ESPN.
Last year’s tight regular-season series and six-game Eastern Conference Final seems to have built some mutual respect between the two sides, though neither was playing this up as a rivalry of any sort. LeBron James was complimentary of the Air Canada Centre crowd once again at shootaround, likening it to a soccer stadium atmosphere, but he wasn’t willing to bite on calling the Raptors – or anyone – a rival. James has been through a lot of seasons with high expectations at this point, and you get the impression he’s not going to be dragged into a storyline of someone coming at the king, so to speak.
“It’s another game for us in the sense of how we continue to get better,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to work on habits. We’ve only had one game so far as well as the Raps. It’s a good test in this environment, not to see where we are — it’s too early in the season, one game, two games into the season. Just to continue to work on habits and work the process that we’re going through.”
The Raptors echoed more or less the same sentiments, declining to say anything white-board worthy.
“It’s game two for us, game two for them,” Kyle Lowry said. “We’re still trying to figure things out, they’re still trying to figure things out.”
The game tips off at 7 p.m. on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 590 in Canada. You can check out the full preview here.
Raptors updates
Jared Sullinger and Delon Wright remain sidelined long-term. Head coach Dwane Casey said at shootaround that he didn’t expect Lucas Nogueira to play, and that if he had to make a call at that moment, Nogueira would be out. In talking with Nogueira the other night, he seemed skeptical he’d be back, too, with the team not wanting to risk aggravation with back-to-back days off coming this weekend. So, yeah, he’s out, as Casey confirmed before the game.
PG: Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, Fred VanVleet
SG: DeMar DeRozan, Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carroll, Terrence Ross
PF: Patrick Patterson, Pascal Siakam, Bruno Caboclo
C: Jonas Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl
OUT: Delon Wright, Jared Sullinger, Lucas Nogueira (TBD)
As a refresher, here’s a deeper look at how Wednesday’s rotation played out. It’s difficult to pin down exactly how things may play out against the Cavs, as they’re capable of going big or small. The Raptors will likely stick with two traditional bigs when Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson share the floor. If James or Richard Jefferson is manning the four, however, the Raptors could either task Patterson with the job, give Siakam a pretty major test, or match a little smaller, perhaps freeing up some minutes for Powell in the process.
There are no easy answers with the Cavs, and it goes beyond figuring out who to throw at James when Carroll sits.
“It’s not just LeBron James. It’s Kyrie Irving, it’s Kevin Love, it’s J.R. Smith, so you’ve got other things to worry about when you’re trying to stop one guy,” Casey said. “For us, we’ve gotta just be prepared. Can’t overthink it. We’ve got some young guys that are playing now, it’s the first time they’ve seen this type of guy, playing against him for the first time. So we can’t overthink it or make it too complex, we’ve gotta keep it simple for a lot of our young guys.”
Cavaliers updates
Cleveland has had some tough luck with concussions early on, as both Kay Felder and Iman Shumpert have been forced into the league’s concussion protocol. Felder has been given the OK for Friday’s tilt, and Shumpert got the thumbs up on Friday.
Channing Frye, meanwhile, is away from the team due to the loss of his mother to cancer yesterday. Send positive vibes to Channing and his family in this tough time.
PG: Kyrie Irving, Kay Felder, Jordan McRae
SG: J..R Smith, Iman Shumpert, DeAndre Liggins
SF: LeBron James, Richard Jefferson, Mike Dunleavy Jr.
PF: Kevin Love, James Jones
C: Tristan Thompson, Chris Andersen
OUT: Channing Frye
Assorted
- A bit of life perspective from shootaround today coming your way:
- LeBron James, when asked whether finishing first was a priority in the East: “Finishing first should be a life priority.”
- Both sides were asked about locking up the one-seed, and while the Cavaliers mostly dismissed it, the Raptors this week have at least acknowledged there would be value in having home court throughout the playoffs, given how last year’s postseason (two wins against Cleveland at home, two game sevens at home) unfolded.
- Kyle Lowry, when asked if a regular season game matters: “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters.”
- Nothing has ever spoke to me more.
- LeBron James, when asked whether finishing first was a priority in the East: “Finishing first should be a life priority.”
- Here’s Tristan Thompson on guarding friend and Canada Basketball teammate Cory Joseph on switches: “Don’t let him go left. He got me a couple of times, but don’t let him go left.”
The line
The Raptors are underdogs in their own house, a fitting bit of #ProveEm for a team that seems to find motivation in just about every slight, real or perceived. Not only are the Cavaliers favored by three points, the line has been bought up from an opening mark of Cavaliers -2. The over-under is set at 206, up from 204.5, a little high for two of the slowest paced teams in the NBA.
So, think the Raptors can pull off the “upset” on their own court with a lot of eyes watching?
