Skip to content

Hardwood Highlight of the Night: Ross sneaks free for baseline jam

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Terrence Ross had been struggling. Badly.

During a tough slide for the once-thriving Toronto Raptors, Ross had been perhaps the team's worst regular rotation player. Entering play Monday, he had shot just 34.1 percent over his past 16 games and 32.5 percent during the team's 2-7 slide.

He wasn't the lone cause of the team's poor stretch but, fairly or unfairly, his struggles were magnified with his teammates failing to pick up the slack for him.

It was bad enough that for the first time since 19 games into last season, Ross wasn't a part of Toronto's starting unit Monday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Greivis Vasquez drew in at the two, and Ross was left in the unfamiliar position of coming off the bench.

It worked out pretty well for one night, with Ross looking comfortable in scoring 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting. That's his highest scoring output since Dec. 22 and his best shooting night since Dec. 14. And hey, the Raptors won 92-89, an ugly first step back in the right direction buoyed in part by Ross' production.

One way to get a struggling player going is with easy buckets, and that's something the Raptors did well early on Monday. To wit, they ran some nice misdirection to free Ross for an emphatic dunk early in the second quarter.

The play begins with Ross inbounding the ball as Lou Williams runs toward him around a Tyler Hansbrough screen and Patrick Patterson and Vasquez establish the weak side for spacing.

Ross inbounds the ball up high to Hansbrough, while Williams prepares to screen for Ross as he enters play. Patterson, meanwhile, flashes high to give Hansbrough a passing option above the elbow.

As Hansbrough swings the ball to Patterson at the top of the key, Ross begins to cut up the wing. As his man begins to chase in that direction, Ross quickly cuts back toward the baseline, freed by a Williams screen and Williams' man staying tight to his hip.

The Raptors often run these curl misdirections to allow for a quick cut back to the middle, particularly for Ross and DeMar DeRozan. In this case, by positioning Hansbrough and Patterson both high and putting a strong shooter in the weak corner, the Bucks are left with nobody to help inside. Struggling though he may be, Ross isn't going to miss an open opportunity to show why he's a two-time defending Slam Dunk Champion (kind of).

They're not going to be able to free Ross for dunks on every possession, but simplifying things for a struggling third-year player is a smart short-term move to help him rediscover his game. And it's a lot of fun, too.

(Courtesy: Sportsnet)

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox