In the first game of an ESPN doubleheader on Wednesday night, the Toronto Raptors will travel to Cleveland to take on the Cavaliers in a matchup of two of the East's top three teams. The Raptors currently lead the East by five games over the Boston Celtics, and seem on their way to locking up the top seed. As for the Cavaliers, they are still battling for playoff position. Currently in third place, they're four games ahead of the eighth-place Bucks, and could wind up finishing just about anywhere between third to eighth.
The Raptors enter the game having won in Orlando on Tuesday night, extending their road winning streak to nine games. Cleveland, meanwhile, is coming off a home win over the Bucks on Monday. This is just the second meeting of the season between these two teams. The Raptors won by 34 back in January.
How to watch Raptors at Cavaliers
- Date: Wednesday, March 21
- Time: 7 p.m. ET
- Location: Quicken Loans Arena -- Cleveland, Ohio
- TV: ESPN
- Streaming: WatchESPN
- Follow: GameTracker
SportsLine odds
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Analysis
The Toronto Raptors have been the best team in the Eastern Conference this season, and on Wednesday night, they'll have another chance to prove themselves. Multiple times now, the Raptors have had strong regular seasons, only to be emphatically eliminated from the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cavaliers. This time around, however, the Raptors seem to have the better team. But the Cavaliers still have LeBron, as well as the mental edge of having handed Toronto all those postseason losses.
This meeting in Cleveland is still just a regular-season game, of course, but it will be an important test for the Raptors. Are they ready to face LeBron on his home floor and prove themselves as the team to beat in the East? Or will their old nemesis stand in their way yet again? Fairly or unfairly, this game will have a big impact on how much people trust the Raptors heading into the postseason.
