TJ Ford

[MapleLeaf]

Just saw it happen live. Final 2 minutes, he stole the ball and was going up for the layup when Al Horford hit him on the head really hard (not on purpose), and Ford fell down hard on the ground on his neck and back. I don't know much more then that. But it was ugly. He was down for a good 10 minutes, and was took off on a stretcher. Does not look good. He was in A LOT of pain. I'm hoping this isn't a serious injury, because Ford is one of the quickest players in the league and I don't want to see him gone again.

Al Horford was given a Flagrant 2 but it was not intentionally. Horford did not mean it, just the action and it happened so quick.

I'll try to find out updates soon.

 

[Mexi]

oh no not again!
this happened a few years ago too
damn, i hope it isnt serious

 

[kdogg]

Yea I saw it live too, very unfortunate situation for TJ and Al...

 

[MapleLeaf]

From ESPN.com

ATLANTA (AP) -- T.J. Ford scored 26 points before he was sent crashing to the floor with an apparent injury on a flagrant foul late in the game, casting a pall over Toronto's 100-88 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.

Ford, who missed the 2004-05 season following neck surgery, was headed toward a breakaway basket when Atlanta rookie Al Horford hit the guard's face with his hand. Ford landed hard, his head bouncing off the floor.

Ford was conscious but did not appear to move before he was strapped to a stretcher and wheeled off the court.

Horford was ejected with the flagrant foul.

Video should be coming soon, ESPN should have it up soon hopefully. They were talking about it on Coast-to-Coast on ESPN2.

 

[The Young One]

I just saw it on coast to coast
I hope he'll recover

 

[MapleLeaf]

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId...amp;hcmp=motion

Video in that link

 

[Pugz]

I seen this happen on Coast to Coast.
I hope he's ok. He doesn't derserve to have this happen again.

 

[DJT]

Ah thats a bummer, hopefully he just got a bump and everything is fine.

 

[MapleLeaf]

Now this is AMAZINGLY good news

T.J. Ford has been released from an Atlanta hospital and is on a flight back to Toronto, ESPN.com's Andy Katz and ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher are reporting.

Ford will be further evaluated when he arrives in Toronto.

The Raptors guard, who missed the 2004-05 season following neck surgery, was headed toward a breakaway basket when Atlanta rookie Al Horford hit the guard's face with his hand. Ford landed hard, his head bouncing off the floor.

"After a while I could see him moving and that was a relief," Toronto's Chris Bosh said, adding there was immediate concern about Ford because everyone knew his injury history.

"It turns my stomach because of who it is," Bosh said. "Like I say, we know about his situation and everything.

"He was conscious. He wasn't trying to move too much. I'm sure he was feeling pain in his arms and legs. I just hope he's OK."

Raptors spokesman Jim LaBumbard confirmed Ford "had feeling in his upper and lower extremities when he was taken off the floor."

Ford was taken to Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.

Former NBA player, coach and Ford workout coach John Lucas told ESPN.com that he spoke with Ford's girlfriend, Candace Dixon, Tuesday night and that she told Lucas that Ford had feeling in his arms and legs and did have range of motion. Lucas said Dixon told him they were awaiting results of a CAT scan and that Ford didn't lose consciousness.

Toronto coach Sam Mitchell reacted with immediate anger to the hard foul and had a brief exchange of words with Atlanta coach Mike Woodson.

"We're just concerned about T.J.," Mitchell said. "There's not much more to say. We've just got to wait and see."

Horford insisted he did not try to injure Ford, who had 26 points.

"Definitely not. I'm not a dirty player," Horford said.

Horford said he was fooled by Ford's move as he went up for the layup with 1:32 left.

"When it happened with a minute and a half left, we were still down by eight [92-84]," Horford said. "He got the steal. I just tried to go and block the shot. When he went up, I went up too. He tried to use the rim and I thought he was going to stay on [one] side so I went up and tried to hit the ball and I hit his head.

"He just made a good move and fooled me."

Horford said he was alarmed by Ford's hard fall.

"When I saw his head hit twice, that's when I thought it was serious," said Horford, who was ejected with the flagrant foul.

Bosh said it didn't look like a dirty play by Horford.

"Al kind of mistimed it and hit him in his head," Bosh said. "I don't think he meant to do it on purpose. He was making a basketball play. He just got him right on his head."

Woodson spoke with Mitchell after the game.

"I just went down there to let them know our prayers are with him," Woodson said of Ford.

Players on both benches and fans were quiet as medical personnel attended to Ford.

"I'm a good friend of T.J.'s," Atlanta's Josh Smith said. "Knowing about the injury he had in Milwaukee, it kind of scared me. I started praying for him."

 

[Yankees2772]

Maple, you're a moron, that wasn't a hard hit at all... He put his hand up and Ford hit into it and fell, the hit hardly changed anything, he just fell in a bad way... Not something Posey would do.

 

[MapleLeaf]

Looks pretty hard IMO, especially in the action, going that fast, and considering how small Ford is and how powerful Horford is. (Don't know if Horford is that strong, but still considerably stronger then Ford)

 

[Yankees2772]

Horford actually let up on the hit... Not as hard as you're making it out to be.

 

[DJT]

Horford actually let up on the hit... Not as hard as you're making it out to be.

It was a hard hit, did you watch the video??? His head snapped back because of Horford's hand. It was a hard hit, if your so tough then you go tell horford to smack you on the top of the head like that.

 

[.loggie]

When I was watching this live I was like YES...GOOD STEAL...

 

[.snowy]

That seriously doesn't look like an accident to me, he was nowhere near the ball...

 

[DJT]

That seriously doesn't look like an accident to me, he was nowhere near the ball...

Thats cause he thought that Ford would lay it in on the right of the basket, but he moved over to the left and got caught. It was an accident.

 

[.snowy]

Yeah, I dont doubt that it was an accident, it just doesn't look like one.

 

[dez]

It was an accident, when else has Horford fouled someone that hard?

The was he explained it made perfect sense, he said he expected Ford to do what many guards do and use the rim as help but instead the angle he used threw Horford off so he thought he had a chance to block the shot and the rest is history.

 

[Whisper]

Horford just did what other inexperienced shot blockers do, they swing their hands forward when they dont get the initial block at the highest point thinking it will make a difference when it doesn't, usually resulting in the up n' coming foul. I think Ford went for the right move though, trying to go reverse to evade the block, it was just unfortunate what happened.

 

[nba_balla]

Was watching the game on television aswell. Probably one of the scariest moments I've seen in basketball IMO. If you seen it on TV, you could actually hear TJ smack his head off of the ground. It was a hard hit, unintentional, but still hard. I'm just relieved he is alright and seeing him on the bench last night made me very happy.