Live Thread: Cavs vs. Raptors (#MusicalChairs)

Round and round and round the champs go… where they’ll stop, nobody knows. One thing’s for sure though, there weren’t enough chairs to go around on the end of the Cavs’ bench for everyone. So, goodbye Lig and L8Show… hello (again) Dahntay and Walt. The Cavaliers have officially brought back the guy they signed on the last day of the season last year with Jones, and surprisingly replaced the apparently failed Sanders experiment with 7’3 D-League behemoth, Tavares. Amazingly, these moves will bring the total number of dudes to wear the wine & gold this year to 22. Granted, there have been a myriad of injuries and upgrades… but still, that’s a lot of transactions for a team seemingly constrained by salary cap and luxury tax restrictions.

While it might seem counter-intuitive for this team to be making these type of trial and error moves at this time of year (as opposed to say training camp), nothing the Cavs have done this year has really followed the script. If anything, it’s been an almost Benjamin Buttons like reversal from the prosperity of December’s 25-7 record and victory over the Warriors on Christmas Day. Since the calendar turned to 2017, the Cavs have been a barely above .500 team (26-23), and have had more than their share of dysfunction. Their defense, which was mediocre in the best of times, has fallen off of a cliff since February. And, in all likelihood, they will officially cede the number one seed to the Celtics tonight, even if they prevail over the visiting Raptors… mainly because Boston should have no trouble with the undermanned Bucks.

Does any of it really matter though? After all, tonight marks the 82nd and final game of the longest and sloggiest regular season in recent memory. Regardless of the outcome, the only certain thing will be that all of the excuses of the regular season will be in the rearview after tonight. No more talk of malaise or tired legs or championship hangover. After tonight, the games will truly matter, and we should finally get a true sense of whether or not we should have been more concerned over the regular season habits of our favorite team.

https://twitter.com/mcten/status/852285672979410946

As far as tonight’s game goes… it winds up being a possible preview of round two of the playoffs (provided both teams make it through round one). The Cavs have swept the previous three meetings with Toronto this year, and this game doesn’t really mean much since the Raps have locked up the three seed, and the Cavs could only move up in the unlikely event that the Celtics lose their last game. LeBron James (technically a calf injury, but more likely for general rest), Kyrie Irving (left knee tendinitis) and Kevin Love (rest) have already been ruled out for this one, and Kay Felder (left leg injury) is questionable. Tristan Thompson (strained right thumb) is expected to play. We’ll wait and see if newcomers Tavares and Jones will be in uniform and play. The Raptors are fully healthy, but it’s possible they may rest some of their starters with nothing really on the line tonight.

Prediction: With very little at stake, Ty Lue spends most of his time evaluating who will fill his 8-9 chairs for the playoffs when the music stops. Raps care enough to not go winless against the Cavs for the regular season (especially minus the big three) and eke out an ugly one 100-89.

Catch all of the action from the final game of the regular season tonight at 8pm (EST) on Fox Sports Ohio, and hang out here to share your thoughts on the impending post season.