The Orlando Magic pulled off a stunning 113-98 win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, all thanks to sixth man Terrence Ross, who had himself a night against the Eastern Conference powerhouse. Raptors coach Nick Nurse lauded Ross for his efforts and made the important distinction of his role coming off the bench.
“They obviously have used him in kind of the Lou Williams role: They don’t start him and they run about everything for him when he comes in,” said Nurse, who was a Raptors assistant coach for most of Ross’ tenure in Toronto, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
“He’s as good a shooter as there is when he’s open or when he’s not open. We always talked about how he can make them covered. And I thought (the referees) gave him a couple real big breaks there on some stuff we defended him well on, and that helps a guy’s confidence, right, when you get defended good and it doesn’t go in and then you get a bunch of free throws instead. But he was great. T-Ross can do that. We know that.”
Ross poured in 28 points and nine rebounds in 30 minutes off the bench — being more than just a spark plug, but the catalyst of their offense once he took the floor.
The once high-flying Ross quickly turned himself into a 3-point specialist, now shooting a sparkling 38.3 percent from the floor. Much like Lou Williams, Ross becomes the focal point and an offense-generator when his number is called — a once-inconsistent, but now viable asset coming off the bench.
The Magic have now won seven of their last nine games and are only one game away from playoff contention, sitting only one game behind the Charlotte Hornets for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
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