Toronto will need more from Jonas Valanciunas and its outside shooters during Patrick Patterson's absence.
The Toronto Raptors have just come through a cross-continent, holiday-bracketing, six-game road trip that covered tens of thousands of kilometres and was the longest journey they’ll make this season.
Their reward?
Three games in four nights, thanks to an unforgiving NBA schedule-maker.
But before they dive into Utah at home Thursday, in Chicago on Saturday and home to Houston on Sunday, some lessons learned from the just-completed road trip:
- A gaping hole emerged: DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are the engines that drive the Raptors, of that there is no doubt.