Cleveland Cavaliers (22-35) vs. Toronto Raptors (31-25)
Venue: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland.
TV: 7 p.m., FOX Sports Ohio (Cavaliers Live pregame starts at 6:30 p.m.)
Projected Starters
TORONTO: C Jonas Valanciunas; PF Patrick Patterson; SF Terrence Ross; SG DeMar DeRozan; PG Kyle Lowry.
CLEVELAND: C Tyler Zeller; PF Tristan Thompson; SF Luol Deng; SG Jarrett Jack; PG Kyrie Irving.
Pregame Notes:
-- The Cavaliers can do this. They can win 15 of their final 25 and get in the playoffs. Seriously. Fifteen-wins-and-10-losses is not impossible. Thirty-seven wins and you're in. At least, you are in the East. It can be done. And the Cavs can start now.
-- Of course, I'm not sure I really believe any of that. But it sure beats negative (and perhaps more realistic) thinking, right? To be honest, I have very little faith in the Cavs right now. To be honest, I don't think the system fits the players. I don't think there needs to be a coaching change. I think there needs to be a system change. But I've been over that 1,000 times. Bottom line: These next 25 games are likely to determine if Mike Brown is still the coach next season.
-- The Cavs could hire a new general manager. David Griffin is the acting GM. If a new GM is brought in, he'll likely hire his own coach. That's not always the case, but typically. And I'm not sure Brown is a Griffin guy, anyway. Brown was a Chris Grant guy. Without Grant in his corner, Brown probably needs to get this team to the playoffs.
-- Now, none of that is official. That's just speculation on my part. But speculate is what we do when things aren't going well.
-- So what should the Cavs do? Make sure things go well (insert smiley-face emoji here).
-- No matter what happens, I hope owner Dan Gilbert decides to keep Griffin as GM. I think Griffin has done enough to earn the job. The culture is stronger than before in a very short amount of time. You wouldn't think a GM could play a role in that, but Griffin has.
-- If Gilbert wants a bigger name, he could always bring in someone new and give the guy a fancy title, like President of All Things Basketball Related to the Cavs. Not really, but you get the idea. It could be someone who oversees everything, including the GM. Sort of like Mike Holmgren once was with the Browns (and we all saw how well that went). But seriously, you can have more than one major decision-maker in the front office.
-- Since I'm sure Gilbert is sitting in his office and thinking, "Well, I'd better wait to hear from Amico," I thought I'd throw all of that in. Now, back to what's happening on the floor.
-- The Cavs will again be without Anderson Varejao (sore back), Dion Waiters (sore knee) and C.J. Miles (sprained ankle). You don't hit the court without those three and expect life to be great. But the Cavs can't use that as an excuse (and they don't). They've played well enough in each of the previous two games to win. They were just unable to sustain what was working.
-- I know I once wrote the Cavs would only need 35 wins to get in the playoffs. That still may be the case. I talked with Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal about this. He seems to think 37 is the magic number. I'll concede. Thirty-seven would make me feel a lot better, anyway.
-- Since the Cavs only won 22 of their first 57, it's hard to fathom them winning 15 of their final 25. But you may as well keep believing until they're officially eliminated. Or I guess you could just assume they're done and be miserable. Sorry, but the second option doesn't sound like much fun to me.
-- It won't be easy, obviously. The Raptors are tough. People pointed and laughed at them entering the season. Then people laughed even louder when they traded Rudy Gay to the Kings. Like the Suns out West, the Raptors were supposed to tank. But like the Suns out West, the Raptors have silenced a lot of folks who made fun of them on Twitter. It's funny how those folks never admit they were wrong (I think we should retweet them).
-- The Raptors are actually what the Cavs should be. They play hard, they play smart, and coach Dwane Casey has instituted an offense that gets the most out of his players. DeRozan became an All-Star and Lowry probably should've been. But the rest of their lineup on paper? Not impressed. On the floor, however, it works quite well.
-- It was the Raptors who snapped the Cavs' six-game winning streak Friday. Sadly, the Cavs played very well in the first half. They played with great confidence. Then came the third quarter and everything slowed down - the passion, the energy level, the productivity on offense. Same thing happened in Sunday's loss to Washington. I'm not sure whether the players are getting bored at halftime or what, but it has been an issue all season.
-- Well, I've probably done enough damage for now. Keep believin' and I'll talk to you after the game.
