Live Thread: Cavs @ Raptors (#NorthernExposure)

On the same night that the Cleveland Indians play Game 3 of the World Series in Chicago against the Cubs, the Cavaliers head back to a familiar place north of the border for Game 2 of the regular season. At this point, you’d have to believe that the residents of Toronto, and fans of their sports teams are probably pretty sick of all things Cleveland related. After all, both basketball and baseball clubs used their corresponding representatives of The Six as a springboard to the Championship round of their respective sports. As seen above, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan had front row seats to the latter after getting beaten on the court for the former back in May. Maybe the city should apply for an NFL team…

But, for all of the losing Toronto has done to Cleveland lately, Lowry thinks he might have figured out a plan to overcome the bullies from the South this season. After all, the Raps actually fared pretty well in the Air Canada Centre in the Eastern Conference Finals last year, winning Games 3 & 4 at home before finally succumbing in Game 6 in The Six. They also brought the fire to a pre-season game at the Q two weeks ago, when Lowry went off for 25 points in just 20 minutes of play. The game didn’t count, but the Raptors sure looked eager to deliver some payback to the Cavs.

The Raptors come off of their resounding victory over the Pistons in their Opening Night performance on Wednesday, where they blew out Detroit behind a 40 point explosion from DeRozan and a 32 point/11 rebound performance from Jonas Valanciunas. The Cavs, after a close first half against the Knicks, also scored a convincing 29 point laugher at New York’s expense. LeBron James notched the first Opening Night triple-double (19/14/11) since Jason Kidd had one to kick off the 2007 season, and the Cavs celebrated their “ring night” in style. With another strong rebounding night tonight, LBJ could potentially become the franchise all time leader (he needs 11 defensive boards to pass Big Z).

Toronto will be without Jared Sullinger (left foot surgery) and Delon Wright (right shoulder surgery), while Lucas Noguiera (sprained left ankle) is questionable. The Cavs should have both Iman Shumpert and Kay Felder (concussion protocol) back in action, but will be missing Channing Frye as he was excused from traveling with the team with the passing of his mother, Karen Mulzac-Frye, after a long battle with cancer (our thoughts and condolences go out to Channing and his family in this difficult time).

Raptors probable starting lineup: Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll, Pascal Siakam and Jonas Valanciunas. Cavs probable starting lineup: Kyrie Irving, JR Smith, LeBron James, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson.

Gametime is 7pm EST, and the action will be televised on ESPN.

Prediction: Cavs overcome a slow start to bring another loss to The North, and eke this one out 104-101.

The Tribe might make it tough to tune in much for this one after the first quarter or so, but chime in as you can… and GO CAVS!