Live Thread: Raptors @ Cavs

Toronto is in town tonight at the Q. This game will be a rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals, but don’t expect it to be very indicative of where either team is actually at. The Cavs are resting LeBron James and training camp invite John Holland is also sitting. The Raptors are without Terrence Ross, Delon Wright, and Jared Sullinger. Tristan Thompson will be starting after missing the two previous preseason games.

The Raptors are bringing back the same team as last year pretty much. The biggest difference is that they swapped out rim protecting Eastern Conference Finalist game-changer Bismack Biyombo for Jared Sullinger. Those two guys couldn’t be more different. Sullinger is a ground bound offensive specialist with a flurry of finesse moves who is hefty for his stature. Biyombo is a shot blocking rim runner who is lanky.

With the real starting lineup still not seeing many minutes, it will be interesting to watch how the Cleveland second unit looks against Toronto’s second unit. These two groups should be pretty evenly matched. Tyronn Lue should try to give Kevin Love a little run with the second unit too. After all, there is still no backup point on this team that looks otherworldly. Lue needs to give Kev a look as an elbow facilitator. Remember when Love did that in Minnesota? It looked so beautiful.

There’s only two more preseason games left, so there will be heavy minutes for the reserves. While it’s not fun slogging through preseason games, it’s all worth it to get to opening night. Watching the extra sub par basketball makes real sorta rusty NBA basketball look so much better.