Longhorn's All-Star Weekend ... and Beyond!
By Andy Denham, 3:59PM, Tue. Feb. 19, 2008
Just when things looked up, another injury takes our boy T.J. Ford to the bench. February 10, and T.J. walks out of Minnesota with a 105-82 victory and one hell of a John Stockton impersonation dishing out 13 dimes. One day later, he manages only nine minutes of action before finding himself sidelined with a sore right wrist in his Texas homecoming at San An (he couldn’t have helped the Raptors, everything Manu touched turned to gold).
Two days after that, he stayed out as Toronto took the W from the Nets. February 13 finds T.J. in his first practice back, and as he makes a sharp cut during drills, T.J.
strains
his
abdomen.
Sigh.
"It was just a regular cut.” Teammate Chris Bosh said afterward. “I think it's just one of those things that he moves so fast, and he's so quick, I guess his body needs time, and he just hasn't had that time yet.”
"It's unbelievable the type of things he has gone through,” sharpshooter Jason Kapono told reporters after practice. “From being carried off on a stretcher to spraining his hand in his third game back and now coming back to his first practice and having a strain.”
So let’s get this laundry list of injuries straight: arm stinger, neck with a side of concussion, finger, wrist, and now an ab strain. That’s not for his damn career, that’s in only 21 damn games this damn season! Damn!
The fuckin’ kid averages five games to every injury!
OK, OK, so what about the other hard-courters with Horns? Look no further than the NBA’s All-Star Rookie Challenge. In the annual frosh vs. sophomore contest, KD did what he’s been doing all year: leading his team with 23 points, shining as the best rookie on the floor, and taking home the loss. So how did Durant drop this one?
Well, remember Daniel Gibson? Yeah, don’t hear too much of him anymore, what with him palling around in the Cleveland snows with some LeBron guy. Well he’s been having one hell of a solid year for a pretty impressive Cavs squad. That and lining up opposite Durant for the rookie/soph game Gibson, well, he sorta kinda went 11-20 from distance for a game-high 33 points. Pssst, that’s a Rookie Challenge record, and that will earn just about anyone MVP honors. It did Gibson.
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