Raptors vs. Trail Blazers: The Day After Christmas

Coming off an impressive win in Utah on Friday, the Raptors continue their West Coast trip with a visit to the Moda Center tonight to take on the Portland Trail Blazers. After being one of the feel-good stories of last season, Portland has struggled this year, particularly on the defensive end. Actually, let's not sugar-coat it, they've been terrible on defense and they've lost five in a row and nine out of ten and at 13-19, are 9th in the West, chasing the Sacramento Kings (!) for a playoff spot. As well, Damian Lillard, who is averaging 27.0 points per game this season, is day-to-day with an ankle sprain which means what is already a very winnable game on the road becomes a they should probably win this one game. [Update: Lillard will miss tonight's game.]

The Raptors have been cruising for most of this season, with their offence humming along at a historical level of efficiency, so why not use this game thread to talk about another pertinent matter: is there any reason the Raptors should not be on the Christmas Day slate next year? I know all of the rational reasons as to why Toronto isn't one of the ten teams in the Christmas slate (the same reasons that we get all those shitty start times for first round playoff games), but at some point, the fact that the Raptors aren't a great ratings draw in the United States has to give way to the fact that Toronto is a top five (top four, top three, whatever you want to rank them in your head) team in the league and should finally get some shine.

Anyways, I just want to see what a Huskies Christmas jersey would look like (I already know, it would be fire), but while we watch tonight's game, what does everyone think about the Christmas thing?

Think about it, check in on John Gaudes' preview, and then discuss away.