CLEVELAND -- Toronto Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas checked in Wednesday night with 6:05 left in the first quarter of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, playing for the first time since Game 3 of the second round of the playoffs.

He finished with nine points in 18 minutes in Toronto's 116-78 loss to Cleveland.

"I was feeling pretty good. Not that I was [really] tired, but yeah I have get back my rhythm and cover a lot of areas," Valanciunas said. "I wasn't great on defense. I missed a couple helps, a couple rebound blockouts. I have to get that back."

Before Wednesday, Raptors center Jonas Valanciunas hadn't played since spraining his right ankle in Game 3 of the second round. Alan Diaz/AP Photo

Valanciunas had missed eight games because of a sprained right ankle. He was active and available for Game 4 but did not play.

"It was good. I felt good. I was enjoying basketball," Valanciunas said. "Too bad everything turned out like this, but I was enjoying playing basketball."

Asked before the game how close he was to 100 percent, Valanciunas smiled and replied, "Close. No, I'm ready to go. Percentage-wise, the ankle doesn't tell you that. I'm just ready to go."

Valanciunas was averaging 15 points and 12.1 rebounds before getting hurt in Game 3 of the team's second-round series with the Miami Heat.