Podium Game Playbook: Terrence Ross perfectly bumps a screen

The Toronto Raptors welcomed the Detroit Pistons into town last night, in what was all of a sudden a game people were looking forward to. A few weeks ago, this looked like a throwaway early January Monday night game. But then the Pistons caught fire, and now they’re must watch TV.

At first it appeared that the Raptors were going to run the Pistons out of the gym, but Brandon Jennings and company came charging back in the second half. And after an enthralling fourth quarter, the Pistons pulled out the victory, 114-111.

But what I want to take a closer look at today is something that happened way back in the first quarter. It was a fairly ordinary play, but it is a great example of how to read the defense coming off a screen. Let’s get into it.

So we start off with Kyle Lowry holding the ball up top, while Amir Johnson prepares to set a pindown screen for Terrence Ross.

As Ross comes around the screen, Jodie Meeks is right beside him. The original play design would call for Ross to come right off of Johnson’s shoulder towards the ball, possibly curling into the paint. Meeks is aware of this, and decides that instead of chasing Ross around the pick, he’s going to cheat and cut Ross off by sliding in-between Johnson and Joel Anthony.

Recognizing what Meeks has done, Ross puts on the breaks and bumps the screen to perfection. Bumping a screen is when, instead of continuing on the path you were taking around the screen, you plant and pop backwards, like Ross has done here. Offensive players use this move when their defenders try to shoot the gap, just like Meeks has done here.

This is a small detail, and something that may be difficult to pick up on watching a game in real time, but as we can see, knowing how to properly read screens is a very necessary skill. If Ross had continued curling around Johnson, Meeks would have been there to cut him off, and the Raptors swingman wouldn’t have gotten the open look he ended up with.