Live Thread: Raptors @ Cavs, Game 1

The Cavaliers finally get to recommence their 2016 playoff run tonight against the Toronto Others… er, Raptors.

The Raptors hit The Q trying to keep the momentum of their closeout game against the Miami Heat going. That win propelled the team into the franchise’s first ever appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals and a date with the Cavaliers. Despite winning the season series against the Cavs 2-1, Toronto finished a game behind the wine and gold for the Eastern Conference’s top seed and have not looked nearly as sharp as their Conference Finals opponent in advancing through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

DeMar DeRozan leads the Raptors in scoring this postseason at 20 points a game and right behind him is his starting backcourt mate and resident bulldog, Kyle Lowry, at 18.6 points and 6.7 assists per game. The two Raptors All-Stars are shooting just 36% from the floor over 14 playoff games, though, as the entire team has struggled to score the ball. The Raptors also took a hit when they lost starting center Jonas Valenciunas to an ankle injury. Valenciunas is out for, at least, the first two games of this series.

The Cavs have been off since May 8th — a span of nine days — since their Conference Semi-Finals series against the Atlanta Hawks that saw Cleveland creep back into the conversation as a possible title contender, regardless of which team comes out of the West. The biggest question facing the Cavs is whether or not they will be able to keep up the torrid three-point shooting that carried them through much of the first two rounds.

If the Cavs have any rust, they’ll have to shake it off quick if they want to avoid a let down against a Raptors team determined to show that they are more than just the “Other” of the 2016 NBA Playoffs.