So ends the busiest month of the season for the Raptors, a month of odd lineups and bad injuries and moments of inspired play and stretches where it looked — quite correctly — like five strangers were running around the court trying to get to know each other.
And all in all, they may not have thrived but they did much more than survive.
A 117-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night ushered out a 16-game December for the Raptors in which they went 9-7 and generally held their own despite missing Pascal Siakam, Marc Gasol and Norm Powell for seven games now.