Raptors to play Cavaliers in Eastern Conference Semi-Finals

For a third year in a row, the Toronto Raptors are drawing the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With the Raptors’ defeating the Washington Wizards in six games and the Cavaliers beating the Indiana Pacers in a Game 7 on Sunday, the two sides will once again meet in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Last year, the Cavaliers swept the Raptors in their second-round series, while a 2015-16 meeting in the Eastern Conference Finals went six games. In both cases, LeBron James and company would go on to the NBA Finals, topping the Golden State Warriors in 2016 and losing the 2017 rubber match. Here, the Raptors will aim to prevent a fourth consecutive Cavaliers-Warriors finals matchup and an eighth consecutive trip to the finals for James.

This will be the first time James draws the Raptors without substantial rest coming into the series, and it will be interesting to see if his immense first-round workload takes a toll and if the part of Toronto’s culture shift that has aimed to keep its stars fresher pays dividends. The Cavaliers also enter pretty banged up, with George Hill and Kevin Love both playing Game 7 at something less than 100 percent. The three days the Raptors will have off between games could be monumental for the health of Fred VanVleet’s right shoulder, and the Raptors should see some real benefit from having closed out the Wizards a little early.

Cleveland won the season series between the teams 2-1, with Toronto blowing Cleveland out at the Air Canada Centre in January and the Cavaliers winning both games in Cleveland later in the year.

The series begins Tuesday at 8pm in Toronto. The rest of the schedule for the series is as follows, with Canadian broadcast details to follow.