1 Christmas gift we hope the Toronto Raptors have under their tree

The Toronto Raptors may have won two straight games against streaking New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers, but they aren’t entering Christmas Day with tons of holiday cheer due to their 15-18 record. Nick Nurse and Masai Ujiri likely expected a few more ticks in the win column.

The Raptors are trying anything and everything to get back on the right track, and it seems like they’ve done a solid job of that lately. Having Pascal Siakam put together some of the best games of his career while OG Anunoby and Scottie Barnes get back on track is refreshing.

If Toronto is in a wishing mood, they need to hope that Santa Claus can come through by bequeathing to them the one factor completely out of their control that has cut them down to size in recent years. Only time will tell if Santa came through on this one.

The Raptors’ gift may not be the most tangible thing in the world, but it will save their season. If the Raptors can get the gift of health and manage to go into games with relatively small injury lists, they might be able actually to make a run at a desirable postseason spot.

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The Toronto Raptors need to ask for health for Christmas.

No Raptors player has suited up in all 33 games, as Christian Koloko and Thad Young are the only players who haven’t ended up on the injury report this season. All five impact scorers have missed at least three games this season, making it very difficult for the offense to get into a flow.

Their win against the Cavaliers on Friday showed that Toronto can be a very dangerous team when they have all of their heavy hitters on the roster. That win was a proof of concept game for the whole “Vision 6-9” philosophy. Much to the chagrin of Donovan Mitchell, the Raptors tore through Cleveland’s defense.

Last year, Toronto had to overcome Siakam missing the start of the season, Anunoby missing almost half of the allotted 82 games, and VanVleet starting to run on fumes near the end of the campaign. In the few occasions they have been locked in, Toronto proved they can take down some of the best teams in the conference.

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As Raptors fans wish for good tidings and a merry holiday season for themselves and their neighbors, they need to hope that Ujiri, Nurse, and the rest of their squad can stay out of the doctor’s office as much as possible this season.