The Toronto Raptors are a great basketball team. Toronto is a great basketball city, too — for all Canada’s hockey love the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto in February saw an fervent environment of hoops mania that would be hard to outdo even in Miami. Oh, speaking of Miami: even basketball fans who love Kyle Lowry, DeMar Rozan and company understand the Shakespearean drama that would attend a Cleveland Cavaliers-Miami Heat Eastern Conference Final.
Heat star Dwyane Wade, it’s worth remembering, has one more championship ring that his former teammate LeBron James. They won twice two together — last taking the title in 2013, just a year before James’ orchestrated his surprise South Beach exit and controversial Cleveland homecoming. Especially with Chris Bosh out, the current Heat squad isn’t just different for lack of LeBron — Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic and Joe Johnson give the heat a very different look. But there’s still Wade and Erik Spoelstra and if you poll the casual fans — not to mention the TV networks — it’s the grudge match between Wade/James and Heat/Cavs that people want to see. The Heat play the Raptors in Toronto at 3:30pm ET Sunday for a trip to tussle with Cleveland.
