TORONTO — One Toronto Raptors rookie went down. Another one took off.
In a game that seemed destined to be marred by the broken finger of Jonas Valanciunas, Terrence Ross strung a series of highlight-reel plays together to lead the Raptors to their fifth-straight victory, an ugly 93-90 triumph over the Orlando Magic.
However, Raptors coach Dwane Casey was busy admiring some other facets of the quiet rookie’s game.
“Defensively, I was really proud of him,” Casey said. “He was guarding [two] of the best pure shooters in both [J.J.] Redick and [Arron] Afflalo, both of those guys. … He did a heck of a job. I was afraid. Every time Redick was there in the corner, I was holding my breath because he’s one of the best actors in the league. He’s acting like he’s not doing anything, and then he goes from zero to 100 in no time flat. But Terrence stayed alert and stayed with him.”
Indeed, Redick struggled all evening long, finishing with just nine points in 35 minutes. If he had knocked down one of his five three-pointers on Friday, it would have been a completely different game.
But, we live in a world where offence reigns, and Ross did some pretty ridiculous things. In the fourth quarter, Ross followed up an Ed Davis miss by darting in from the three-point arc, leaping over an Orlando defender and putting back a thunderous one-handed jam. Casey called it “one of the most vicious dunks I’ve seen.”
No comments:
Post a Comment