Now would be a good time to jump on the Toronto Raptors bandwagon. The team recently made franchise history with their second-round victory over the Miami Heat in the 2016 NBA Playoffs, and tonight at 8:30 p.m., they'll tip-off in the conference final for the first time ever. This might be as good as it gets for the Raps and their fan base. The team is the heavy underdog against the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers, who've yet to lose a postseason game.
Their chances
Few are giving the Raptors much of a chance in the series. Despite beating Cleveland 2-1 in the three regular season games, a Toronto win would be considered a sizable upset.
The Cavaliers have experienced relatively smooth sailing through the playoffs to this point, with back-to-back series sweeps of the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks. The Raptors, meanwhile, have needed the maximum seven games to squeak out victories in the first two rounds.
Key cogs
Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan, right, and Kyle Lowry, make up the core of Toronto’s offense.
Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The Raptors' success, as it so often does, rests on the shoulders of their two star players: Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan. Both men have been celebrated and maligned at times during this current playoff run. If the Raptors are to sneak by the Cavs, they'll need big efforts from this dynamic duo.
DeRozan's 20 points a game leads all Raptors scorers in the playoffs, followed by Lowry's 18.6.
Public Enemy No. 1
LeBron James, shown during Game 3 of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks on May 6, says the time off before Cleveland’s upcoming series against the Toronto Raptors was huge for him and his teammates.
John Bazemore/AP
He may have been overtaken by the Warriors' Steph Curry as the game's greatest player right now, but LeBron James is still a dominant force in the NBA. Stopping The King, a two-time NBA champion, will be the Raptors' greatest challenge in this series.
James, flanked by point guard Kyrie Irving and forward Kevin Love, leads a formidable Cavaliers offensive that's first in playoff three-point field goal percentage (46.2) and second to only the defending-champion Warriors in average points per game (107.8).
Big men
The ankle injury that continues to sideline Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas has allowed for the emergence of an unlikely hero so far in these playoffs: Bismack Biyombo. The 6-foot-9 23-year-old has stepped in to provide the Raptors with a big boost at both ends of the court in Valanciunas's absence.
Valanciunas, who suffered an ankle injury in Game 3 of the conference semifinal vs. the Heat, will miss tonight's match, but hasn't been ruled out for the entire series. His 12 postseason rebounds a game will be hard to replace, but Biyombo has done an impressive job, pulling down an average of 8.9 boards so far.
Ticket prices
If you're planning on making a last-minute trip to Cleveland and looking for cheap tickets to Game 1, you might be in luck. As of Tuesday morning, seats at Quicken Loans Arena were going for as little as $78 in the nosebleeds. A court side view, however, could cost you around $1, 200.
Back in Toronto, a seat in the 300s at the Air Canada Centre for Game 3 will cost you at least $150, while a court side ticket could set you back more than $6,000, according to prices listed on the ticket re-sale site StubHub.
Note: An earlier version of this story referred to the series as the conference semifinal. This version has been corrected.