40 Acres Sports

Former Longhorn TJ Ford went down with a neck/back injury in tonight’s Raptors’ playoff game:

Toronto Raptors point guard T.J. Ford was admitted to a Toronto hospital Tuesday after leaving an Eastern Conference playoff game against the New Jersey Nets with what team officials said was a “stinger.”

Ford left Game 5 of the quarter-final series with 29.7 seconds left in the first quarter after former Raptor Vince Carter fell on top of him in a scramble for the ball. He lay face down on the floor for a couple of minutes before being helped to his feet.

Raptors officials said he was taken to hospital to undergo precautionary tests.

Ford was born with spinal stenosis (narrowing of spaces in the spine that results in pressure on the spinal cord and on nerve roots) and missed all of the 2004-05 due to a back injury. Hopefully this really was just precautionary and T.J. makes a quick recovery.

Source

Update: TJ was in good enough condition that he was able to return to the team bench before the end of the game. No status update for Friday’s game yet.

Former Longhorn T.J. Ford was traded late last night from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Toronto Raptors for forward Charlie Villanueva. The Raptors were looking for a pass-first point guard who can drive and dish to players like Chris Bosh and first overall pick Andrea Bargnani. Ford and new teammate P.J. Tucker just missed each other on the 40 Acres, but they’ll have a chance now to together help the Raptors run and gun like a Canadian version of the Phoenix Suns.

The income taxes suck, but it should be a good opportunity for T.J.

Sprained left foot could sideline him for up to 3 weeks.

16 points, 14 assists, and one rebound short of a triple double.

Former Horn TJ Ford has been cleared to take part in full-contact basketball.