Maybe there is a bit of juice to tonight’s Raptors-Cleveland Cavaliers game despite the assertion from Toronto players and coaches that it’s just another one on the schedule.
“These games are always fun,” Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan said after shootaround Friday morning. “When you compete against top teams in this league and you’re a competitor, you’d be lying . . . if you said these games aren’t fun. You look forward to it, the crowd’s going to be into it, everybody’s looking forward to it.
“It’s definitely going to be fun.”
The Raptors, winners of nine in a row at home, are three games behind Cleveland for top spot in the Eastern Conference with about a third of the regular season remaining.