The Toronto Raptors have impressed all and sundry by their resilience in the face of ceaseless injury woes. Beginning from the end of the 8-game win streak on December 3, the Raptors are 8-7. While that’s hardly championship calibre play, a collapse would have been just as likely as plus_.500, given how many games our critical starters have missed.
The next three games are nasty ones for our gang. The Raps visit San Antonio and Milwaukee, then return home the same night to face the Indiana Pacers on a back to back. There’s no chance Jonas Valanciunas will play any of these; I’d be pleasantly surprised if we saw him at all before a 3-game road trip beginning January 23.