Cavaliers vs. Heat gamethread

It’s the Cavs vs. an old foe without an old friend.

No Dion Waiters — who is suspended after the whole eating a gummy thing — makes this a little bit less fun. Having Waiters back in Cleveland is always a little weird and fun. But the Jimmy Butler-era Heat are good — second in the East, fourth in defensive rating — and the second-straight playoff team the Cavs will face. It’ll be interesting to see how Cleveland will do for that reason alone and how they’ll approach guarding Butler. It’ll also should be really fun to watch Tristan Thompson and Bam Adebayo go at it.

And on a site note, sorry they’ve have been missing. Won’t be an issue again.

Start time: 6 p.m. EST

Odds: Heat are favored by five points

Cavs expected starting lineup: Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson

Heat expected starting lineup: Kendrick Nunn, Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson, Meyers Leonard, Bam Adebayo

Cavs status updates: Dylan Windler (out, stress reaction), John Henson (out, hamstring), Ante Zizic (out, foot)

Heat status updates: Tyler Herro (day-to-day, ankle), James Johnson (day-to-day, illness), Derrick Jones (day-to-day, hip), KZ Okpala (day-to-day, left Achilles strain), Justise Winslow (day-to-day, concussion), Dion Waiters (out, suspension)