Raptors’ Jonas Valanciunas playing in Game 4 vs Cavaliers

Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas will return to the lineup in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers

The Toronto Raptors, other than just trying to get over all of the weight of history weighing them down, have faced their fair share of adversity in the 2016 NBA Playoffs. Perhaps the biggest hardship that they’ve been up against, though, has been the fact that they’ve been playing without their big star in the middle in center Jonas Valanciunas.

That’s a problem they won’t be facing anymore (or at least hopefully).

After reports surface that he was going to warm up and test out his injured ankle to see what his chances of playing were, Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com reported that Valanciunas would be starting on Monday night for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

This is going to be huge for the Raptors, even after they already won Game 3 to pull a bit closer in the series. Before injuring his ankle, Valanciunas was huge for Toronto as he was owning everyone of his opponents on the glass, scoring at a great rate, and playing his best defense of the year.

With the Cavaliers’ ability to go small, though, we’ll see what happens now that Valanciunas is back in the lineup. Moreover, we’ll see if the big man has any rust that he has to shake up. What’s clear, though, is that the East Finals just got much more interesting.

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