TORONTO - As a sizeable media contingent jockeyed for position around his locker, Terrence Ross searched for the words to describe his historic night. "It feels good," he settled on. Its been nearly a year since the Raptors sophomore had his coming-out party at All-Star Weekend, since the spotlight was this big, this bright. Whether he likes it or not, the attention is something he may have to get used to. Often one of the first to escape Torontos locker room, the soft-spoken 22-year-old has perfected the post-game dash like a grizzled vet. There was no avoiding it on Saturday. Ross nearly doubled his career high, previously 26, en route to a magical 51-point performance that matched Vince Carters franchise scoring record, set in February of 2000. Not only is Ross, according to Elias Sports Bureau, the first player averaging fewer than 10 points per game to ever score 50, but he also became the second-youngest to accomplish that feat. Moments after it came to an end - Toronto dropping a 126-118 shootout to the Clippers - his teammates threw a basketball into his locker. "Whats this?" he asked, as if he didnt know. It, of course, was the game ball. With the souvenir comes the heightened expectations that accompany a 50 point-game. Theres no sneaking up on anybody now. Hes raised the bar for himself. "Now hes told on himself," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said after the game. "Not that he has to get 51 every night, but hes got to have that offensive focus." A much improved defender in his second NBA season, Ross has also excelled from long range, shooting the three-ball at a 41 per cent clip. His next step, as Casey has alluded to, is to capitalize on his proficiency from downtown by putting the ball on the floor, creating his own looks around the rim and getting to the free throw line. With his full offensive arsenal on display against the Clippers, its not hard to see why Casey is enamoured by his potential. Twenty-one of his 23 first-half points came from beyond the arc, as Ross eclipsed the franchise mark for most threes in a half with seven. Coming out of the break, Doc Rivers and his team made the inevitable adjustment, closing out hard on the red-hot Ross. "They were running at him," Casey said, "[but he] did a good job reading the defence." DeMar DeRozan, who rolled his ankle on the foot of Toronto supervillain Hedo Turkoglu in the first half, left the game early in the third. Ross immediately stepped in for his mentor. Midway through the quarter, he made his presence felt with a put-back dunk in the lane. Ten seconds later, he picked off Darren Collisons pass, ran the length of the floor and finished an alley-oop. Eight of his 13 third-quarter points came in the paint and he also made nine of 10 free throw attempts on the night. His 31-foot, buzzer-beating bomb tied the game going into the fourth. From there he was on cruise control. "You dont think about it," Ross said. "You dont really realize what youre doing until its all over." Whats the mindset when one of your teammates is playing like…? "Give him the ball," Kyle Lowry said, before the question could even be completed. "Give him the ball, I dont care what hes… just give him the ball." When it was all said and done the Raptors had lost, defence being the primary culprit, but Ross had accomplished something remarkable. He was speechless, essentially, and so too were his teammates. "Unbelievable," said Lowry, succinct once again. "He did an unbelievable job. Thats it, unbelievable." A primary beneficiary of the Rudy Gay trade, Ross is averaging just under 30 minutes a night since the deal, 12 minutes more than he was getting as sub. He has earned the trust of his coach with his commitment to defence and his teammates are comfortable with him firing at will, provided theyre good shots. With DeRozan out of the lineup indefinitely Rosss role figures to expand once again. "Im probably the happiest person on the team for him to be honest," DeRozan said. "Ive been going up against T since his rookie year, pushing him, going at him day in and day out. Just seeing how high his confidence level is is definitely good to see." Now, all eyes are on Ross. What will he do for an encore?
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Philadelphia 76ers Pro Shop . At quarterback, all agree that Andy Dalton has been a wonderful surprise, but to truly progress he has to play his best in the playoffs. The two losses in the wildcard rounds keep the evaluation on Dalton open -- just like it did for Peyton Manning many years ago and Matt Ryan until last year. White Sox rookie first baseman Jose Abreu came to major league baseball with some hype, as many Cubans do, but there wasnt any expectation for the kind of first month that hes enjoying. 27-years-old with a power-hitters build (listed at 6-foot-3, 255 pounds), Abreu has roared into the majors, with 10 home runs, 31 RBI, a .262 batting average and .962 OPS in his first 26 games. As with any one-month sample, these numbers arent sustainable, but what is fair to expect from Abreu? For one thing, his batting average on balls in play is .246, which is well below average, so it would be fair to expect his batting average to go up as a few more balls fall in, but hes also had a major-league best 33.3% of his flyballs leave the park, which isnt going to hold. Over the past five seasons, there have been two seasons in which a player finished with more than 27% of his flyballs turning into home runs -- Adam Dunn in 2012 (29.3%) and Chris Davis in 2013 (29.6%) -- so Abreu is most likely to fall off his current 62-home run pace. No, seriously. What will bear watching with Abreu is how pitchers adjust to him as he makes his way through the league. He swings at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone and hes already seeing among thelowest percentage of strikes when hes at the plate, so pitchers are learning. Its also interesting to note that, thus far, while Abreu destroys fastballs and sliders, hes struggled with change-ups. If thats the scouting report, surely hell start seeing more change-ups, if just to affect his timing. At this point, 14.5% of the pitches Abreu has faced have been change-ups; it will be interesting to see if that number increases over the next month or more. None of this anticipated regression should come as a surprise, merely as a caution.dddddddddddd Baseball tends to catch up to sluggers, especially ones that are willing to expand their strike zone by swinging freely. GOOD ADDS (available in at least 40% of TSN leagues) Nick Castellanos, 3B, Detroit - 3 HR, 13 RBI, .258 AVG, 7 R, 66 AB (Available: 71.6%) Dioner Navarro, C, Toronto - 1 HR, 14 RBI, .309 AVG, 11 R, 81 AB (Available: 89.6%) Alberto Callaspo, 3B/2B, Oakland - 3 HR, 13 RBI, .272 AVG, 9 R, 81 AB (Available: 74.6%) Casey McGehee, 3B, Miami - 0 HR, 16 RBI, .287 AVG, 5 R, 94 AB (Available: 75.8%) Dillon Gee, RHP, N.Y. Mets - 2-1, 2.88 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 27 K, 40 2/3 IP (Available: 65.7%) Ian Kennedy, RHP, San Diego - 2-3, 3.16 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 37 K, 37 IP (Available: 76.2%) CLOSER NOTES The Angels have demoted Ernesto Frieri, leaving side-arming veteran Joe Smith for the role. Smith, 30, recorded the first three saves of his career last season for Cleveland. While hes not the
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http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '
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