Not that I'd recommend this course of action for every player that has a bit of a slump, but a month-and-a-half off seems to have done wonders for T.J. Ford.
Let's hear it for the value of fresh legs.
On the bench since Dec. 30, Ford rejoined the rotation over the weekend (Earl Watson was away from the team attending his grandmother's funeral) and in two games totaled 31 points and eight assists, made 13-of-18 shots (.722) and 3-of-4 from the 3-point line. Keep in mind, Ford was 1-of-28 from the arc in his first 31 appearances.
Ford deserves tremendous credit for keeping himself ready.
"I just depended on myself, my hard work, my drive, my determination that I have, the things that got me to this level," he said. "It's in my own hands. Nobody's going to hold my hand to do the things I need to do to stay in shape and continue to work on my game. I just did all the necessary things to pretty much keep myself ready so if I was put into the lineup I could try to be as productive as I can."
Whether Ford will continue to play remains to be seen. Watson is back and presumably will start Tuesday against Chicago in the final game before the All-Star break. A.J. Price, who started Friday against Detroit and Saturday in Milwaukee, left the Bucks game with a concussion but it apparently was mild because he's listed as day-to-day on today's injury report.
Reggie says Pacers "still haven't recovered"
TNT had a pre-All-Star conference call involving its on-air talent last week and Reggie Miller was asked how the Wizards could deal with the suspensions of Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton based on his experiences with the Pacers in the ill-fated 2004-05 season.
"Hats off to (then-coach Rick) Carlisle and his staff, we ended up in the fifth or sixth spot and we were lucky to get that and move on to the second round," Miller said. "We made it work, Flip (Saunders) will make it work. As they always say, 'and this too shall pass.' This will pass. We don’t know what the future holds for the Wizards, but Flip is an excellent coach. I know he didn’t sign up for this, but it’s very, very unfortunate.
"(The Pacers) still haven’t recovered. … They play hard, but the Pacers have never, ever recovered from that night. Things will never be the same until they get lucky in the draft, they are able to overpay a free agent and things get turned around, but things will never be the same. Let’s hope that’s not the case in the nation’s capital with the Wizards, but it’s just not the same.”
Fast breaks …
Hoopsworld.com is reporting Acie Law's representatives have been granted permission by the Bobcats to try to work out a trade. New York apparently heads the list but the Pacers were also mentioned as showing interest.
Coach Jim O'Brien said he considers the play of Price to be the most pleasant surprise of the season. "I don't think there's any question about that," he said. "In a season where your other draft pick, a lottery pick has been extremely limited, to be able to get a guy like that so late in the draft and have him come and put up solid numbers for a rookie and then to be able to get a chance to get good numbers from the standpoint of minutes played is good."
Speaking of the "other draft pick," will Tyler Hansbrough be back after the All-Star break? "I do not know about Tyler. Nobody has told me that we will or that we won't," said O'Brien. "Right now he's on the shelf. He's not working out at all so if he's able to come back and start working out that's going to be important because the fact he's been told he's not allowed to move around, even one-on-none, is a real setback from a conditioning standpoint."
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