If you don't know Ford landed hard, his head bouncing off the floor, I just saw the clip and want to send out thoughts and prayer to TJ and his family, hopefully its nothing serious and will be able to recover . Link http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives...raps_top_hawks/</p>
Alot of people are calling Horford a dirty player, WTF? He has nohistory of being a dirty player, and he didn't do it to injure Ford, he just miss timed the block.</p> Either way I hope Ford is okay, I feel really bad for him, and hope to see him in the court again. He's a very talented player, and it'll be a shame, if he doesn't get to play again.</p>
I haven't seen anybody call him a dirty player. But that was a boneheaded play on his part. btw, I've posted some updates in the Raptors Game Thread: www.sportstwo.com/Thread/View/NBA/TORONTO/2040515</p>
<div><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/O0kAOxn9cu8&"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/O0kAOxn9cu8&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" /></embed></object></div></p> That is terrible. I feel real sorry for TJ...ah man.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (o.iatlhawksfan)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Alot of people are calling Horford a dirty player, WTF? He has nohistory of being a dirty player, and he didn't do it to injure Ford, he just miss timed the block.</div></p> I don't know the guy well enough to call him a dirty player but that was a stupid play and if this was the NHL Whoreford wouldn't have made it off the ice.</p> Never mind, Smitch almost took care of it himself and the old dog could if he wanted too. Ask Rafer and Wince; Smitch has no problem laying the smack down when he has to.</p> Hey Al, when you feel face, you're supposed to let up asshole.</p> </p>
Is it really a dumb move? When you go up for a lay-up and are not able to get a block, the 2nd option is to give a hard foul to prevent and and 1 right? Thats obviously what he did, it just went wrong now I don't think he intended to hit his head, but give a hard foul, which is a part of basketball. Either way I'm sure he and all hawks fans wish for the best, he did go to the hospital and apologize.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (o.iatlhawksfan)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> Is it really a dumb move? When you go up for a lay-up and are not able to get a block, the 2nd option is to give a hard foul to prevent and and 1 right? Thats obviously what he did, it just went wrong now I don't think he intended to hit his head, but give a hard foul, which is a part of basketball. Either way I'm sure he and all hawks fans wish for the best, he did go to the hospital and apologize.</p> </div></p> </p> When your losing by almost 20, why are you trying to get a block. I mean, you feel head, you let up. A hard foul, is when you put your body in to the guy and try and block it, not hit his head. Also, the follow through by Horford, shouldn't a bad foul. As much as I like Horford, something like this didn't need to happen.</p>
</p> Dude, he pulled on the man's face. If he even went for TJ's arm, I'd say fair is fair but c'mon, dirty player or not, it was a needless play and a horrible rookie mistake.</p> People stop layups everyday without getting kicked out of the game. That alone should make it clear that it was a dumb move, good idea perhaps but dumb move.</p>
I play basketball and I've gotten hit pretty hard, and have hit people pretty hard, but never has it been intentional. It was a stupid play I agree, but players make stupid plays all the time, should we suspend them for making careless plays?</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (o.iatlhawksfan)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> I play basketball and I've gotten hit pretty hard, and have hit people pretty hard, but never has it been intentional. It was a stupid play I agree, but players make stupid plays all the time, should we suspend them for making careless plays?</p> </div></p> </p> Yes, but they didn't think they before they acted. It's like saying you shouldn't do anything to a guy who drove his car in to another guys car, because while he was angry, he didn't mean to injure the guy, just give him a nudge. The fact is, Horford laid down a stupid foul, and while I don't think a long ass suspension is in order, something should be done, to show other players that shit like that won't go un-noticed.</p>
They showed this play at halftime of the Bulls game last night, and I was sitting there thinking, "wow, he got injured from that". It wasn't even that hard of a foul. Ben Gordon gets hit in the head when driving like that all the time with no foul call (those are when he's driving into a bunch of guys though, not on the fastbreak). Its not really a dumb move. He made the dumb basketball move in the sense that he should have just stretched out his arm for the block (ala Tayshaun Prince on Reggie Miller), but it wasn't dumb as in malicious or anything. I really don't see what the big deal is with what Horford did, he hit the guy in the head, yeah, but that happens plenty in the NBA. Its unfortunate that TJ Ford got injured like that, but Ford will probably leave NBA games on stretchers like that multiple times like that throughout the rest of his career; he has a history of it already. He is just prone to those types of injuries. To try to call Horford dumb, or malicious is wrong. He just made a regular basketball play, nothing out of the ordinary.</p>
^ I agree. If Ford has a problem with falling down and getting fouled hard than I think he should quit playing because this is not elementary bball.</p> Other than that I wish him good luck and hopefully it was nothing more than a scare.</p>
You guys clearly didn't watch the replay close enough. Al's slap hit the top of TJ's head and dragged him down from his neck, similar to a horsecollar tackle. And then to make matters worse his head made hard contact with the hardwood as he was falling down. The culmination of the two things would've been enough take down any NBA player, especially when you consider the difference in size/weight between the two players. It really has nothing to do with Ford being injury prone, and the fact that he was out of the hospital in a day and never really was unconscious proves that. It wasn't a basketball play at all. Horford missed the opportunity to wrap him up and intentionally foul because TJ had clearly beaten him to the basket. And he really had no chance of making a play at the ball, because he had hesitated enough to give Ford a clear layup. It was a boneheaded play more than anything, and hopefully Al learns from this. Even if he had missed his head, that swat would've dragged him down from the shoulders and that could've been just as dangerous.</p>
You may be a player who doesnt miss a single game but by the way TJ Ford hit his head against the court would make anyone leave on a stretcher, some of you are saying that the Horford foul wasnt hard and other players get up easily after harder falls but thats not the point, the way he landed head first against the court made his head slam. Watch the replay again from another angle, I know when I was watching the game and TJ went down it didnt look like much from the camera's point by the baseline cam shows TJs head hitting the ground twice in a whiplash kind of fashion. Anways I hope he is alright and it really is a scary injury, the worst part of it for me was watching TJ cry when he was lying motionless because it really makes you think of the worst possible scenario and that he is in tremendous amount of pain. After reading Ulmer's blog on Raptors.com he said that TJ was released from Atlanta hospital this morning and that he is walking so hopefully it wasnt anything too serious.</p>
I don't think it was. Personally, it reminds me of last season when Calderon went through a similar hit. Everyone suspected the worst, but after resting a couple games to be precautious, he was back and playing as good as ever.</p>
Yeah I was watching the game at home with my sister and I said the exact same thing, last season vs GS (I was at the game) when Calderon went out on a stretcher motionless every suspected the worst and that his season would be shortened significantly but he came back the very next game or the game after that.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BG7 Lavigne)</div><div class='quotemain'></p> They showed this play at halftime of the Bulls game last night, and I was sitting there thinking, "wow, he got injured from that". It wasn't even that hard of a foul. Ben Gordon gets hit in the head when driving like that all the time with no foul call (those are when he's driving into a bunch of guys though, not on the fastbreak). Its not really a dumb move. He made the dumb basketball move in the sense that he should have just stretched out his arm for the block (ala Tayshaun Prince on Reggie Miller), but it wasn't dumb as in malicious or anything. I really don't see what the big deal is with what Horford did, he hit the guy in the head, yeah, but that happens plenty in the NBA. Its unfortunate that TJ Ford got injured like that, but Ford will probably leave NBA games on stretchers like that multiple times like that throughout the rest of his career; he has a history of it already. He is just prone to those types of injuries. To try to call Horford dumb, or malicious is wrong. He just made a regular basketball play, nothing out of the ordinary.</p> </div></p> </p> Agreed. Completely. Shit happens in the NBA. Young players should and will play hard whether it's up 20 or down 20. He was trying to get a block, stop the easy bucket, and it went wrong.</p> Horford is not at all a bad person, or a Fortson-type. TJ Ford is simply a weak and injury-prone player, and that's not Horford's fault. Most other players would've been able to take that hit like it's nothin.</p>
