Dribbles: Cavs conclude regular season, and ready or not, here come the Raptors

April 12, 2026

Random dribbles from the Cavaliers’ 130-117 home win over the woeful Washington Wizards on Sunday in the regular-season finale.

1. Nae’Qwan Tomlin erupted for 26 points and rookie Tyrese Proctor looked great with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Coach Kenny Atkinson gave kudos to all the young guys who played.

2. There. That should about do it for the actual game.

3. For the Cavs (52-30), it’s now all about the Toronto Raptors, their first-round playoff opponent. Game 1 is Saturday at 1 p.m., Rocket Arena.

4. The Raptors are a little bit of a surprise opponent. Everyone sort of expected the Atlanta Hawks — including Atkinson. But the Hawks got blown out by the Miami Heat on Sunday. The Raptors beat the Brookly Nets.

5. Still, it wasn’t decided until the Orlando Magic lost to the Boston Celtics. I’ll spare you how that all worked. But Atkinson’s postgame press conference didn’t start until the Celtics-Magic game ended. So he was tuned in.

6. Atkinson then entered the press room and said, “You just never know.” What he meant was that, yes, most everyone expected the Cavs to face the Hawks. But here we are.

7. Toronto beat the Cavs in all three matchups this season, but that was a lifetime ago. All three games took place before Thanksgiving. The Cavs are very different team today.

8. Still, the Raptors (46-36) are one of the NBA’s most pleasant surprises. Not a lot of people had them finishing with the No. 5 seed in the East. Plenty didn’t have them even making the playoffs. Guilty as charged.

9. Atkinson on the Cavs: “I’ve said it before, post-trade-deadline, we’re a better team. Front office deserves a lot of credit for that.”

10. Atkinson on the Raptors: “Toronto, ya know, that’s no picnic. It’s great, though. Great basketball city, great challenge for us.”

11. Atkinson is right about Toronto being a basketball city. Forget that it’s smack dab in the middle hockey country. I learned during the LeBron James era that their fans are passionate, loud and generally make their way to Cleveland.

12. Atkinson on the Raptors’ strengths: “Transition defense, their speed, they turn you over. They’re very good at that. (Toronto forward) Brandon Ingram is a high-level player. But they’ve done it as a group. This is a big challenge for us.”

13. This doesn’t mean too much, but the Hawks are definitely a better three-point shooting team than the Raptors. Atlanta finished sixth in the NBA in three-point percentage; Toronto finished 22nd.

14. And we all know that the Cavs’ three-point shooting defense hasn’t been great. So perhaps Toronto was the preferred oppionent. I don’t really know.

15. For the record, the Cavs did not have James Harden, Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroder or the injured Max Strus the last time they played the Raptors. In fact, the Cavs are expected to finally be whole for the playoffs. (Though Thomas Bryant‘s status is TBD.)

16. Anyway, that’s what’s coming next. We have a full week to discuss. It all starts now for the Cavs. They have to get out of the second round this year. But they have to get out of the first round first.