The Toronto Raptors make their way to Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday night to battle the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
The Raptors had to endure 14 games over the course of the first two rounds of their most successful postseason in franchise history to get to this point. The team capped off a seven-game series with the Miami Heat at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday afternoon, emerging with a 116-89 victory. All five members of the starting five posted double digits in a win that saw Kyle Lowry emphatically shake off the offensive cobwebs that had plagued him for the majority of the Playoffs, dropping 35 points, hauling in 7 rebounds and facilitating 9 assists, shooting 11 of 20 from the field and 5 of 7 from downtown in the process. Bismack Biyombo continued to step up his game in the absence of Jonas Valanciunas, recording 17 points and 16 boards en route to a double-double as Toronto enters the Conference Finals for the first time in their 21-year history. The club will have to live without Valanciunas' services until Game 3 on Saturday at the earliest, as Raptors Head Coach Dwane Casey confirmed on Monday that he will miss at least the first two games of the series as he continues to nurse a sprained right ankle that has forced him to miss the last four contests for Toronto.
The Cavaliers' road to their series with the Raptors took a smoother journey, one that included two back-to-back series sweeps over the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks. The team will have played just eight games in 34 days by tip-off on Tuesday evening, with a full tank of gas a healthy roster at their disposal. Kyrie Irving is leading the team in scoring in the Playoffs, averaging 24.4 points and 5.5 assists, while LeBron James is posting 23.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists per outing. Kevin Love's 12.5 rebounds per game is third-best in the NBA in the postseason, in addition to his 18.9 points average. Cleveland was 1-2 against Toronto during their 2015-16 season series, with both losses taking place at Air Canada Centre. The Cavaliers have dropped only eight games on their home court all season. Tuesday marks the start of the sixth Conference Finals appearance for the the Cavs in franchise history.
