Raptors vs. Cavaliers: There's a basketball game going on here

Before we get carried away by Drake-mania (oh wait, too late), let's try to talk objectively about the basketball game tonight. You know the one. The Raptors vs. Cavaliers one.

Cleveland comes to Toronto riding high on a three game win streak and an 11-3 record. They are again the favourites to emerge from the Eastern Conference because, well, they still have LeBron James. He's currently averaging 25.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.7 assists while cruising along at 36.1 minutes per game (tied for a career-low). Now paired with a healthy Kevin Love (with his 19.4 points and 11.7 rebounds per game and bizarre hair game), James and company are taking some big swings at the league.

The Cavs have confirmed Mo Williams' return to the lineup tonight, but are listing Matthew Dellavedova as a game time decision. It should also be noted that Russian man mountain Timofey Mozgov is at day five of a presumed 10-14 day absence due to a strained deltoid. (And Kyrie Irving is out until Christmas, just FYI.)

All of this is to say the Raptors have some interesting choices to make tonight. Will the Raptors attempt to go small with a Carroll-Patterson-Johnson frontline? Will Scola get heavy minutes to work old man magic on Tristan Thompson? Will the Lowry-DeRozan combo make mincemeat of whatever guards the Cavs do manage to trot out? What of Bebe???

There is one certainty: DeMarre Carroll will be tasked with checking James for most of the night. This will be his biggest challenge.

Read Eric Koreen of the National Post today on why Carroll is important, tonight especially.

Then, get set for the game with Sean Woodley's Drake-ified preview.

And yes, it is Drake Night. Norm is on board. Here's our obvious soundtrack for the evening:

Now, let's get to the comments.