The Official Site of TJ Ford

Wed, Mar 12th 2008, 09:58

TJ soars but Raptors fall

TJ recorded 28 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists to keep the Raptors close to the Lakers throughout the second half, but the Raps eventually fell 117-108. The Lakers had no answer for TJ’s quickness on the offensive end, but were able to outscore the Raptors down the stretch, helped by the fact that they made 15 3-pointers.

“They had some guys who just made shots and made it tough for the way we played defense,” said T. J. Ford,“It’s hard to play Kobe one-on-one; that’s the price we had to pay and those guys made us pay tonight.

Ford’s play was the revelation of the game for Toronto. The diminutive guard played the final 16 minutes of the game and was able to get into the paint all night. While he did still display a penchant for over-dribbling at times, it was his best overall game in a while.

“Ford’s penetration hurt us,” said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. “He got some rhythm in the second half; he played a good first half (10 of his points) but he really got into a rhythm in the second half.”

Ford, who played 27 minutes, said he’s not concerned about any lingering pain from an abdominal strain he suffered two weeks ago.

“My health is what it is,” he said. “Everybody in the NBA is fighting with injuries; it’s one of those things you have to play with. Everyone in this locker room knows how to play with their injuries—it’s not a fact of whether I play good or bad, it’s matter of getting focused mentally and not worry bout the injury.

“I just try to do everything possible that I could to bring some thing to the table. Tonight I had to take more shots because of the way they were guarding us.”

Mitchell said the decision to stick with Ford for the entire fourth quarter—when Ford scored 14 of his points—was an easy one to make.

“He was playing well, the group he was on the floor with was playing well,” said the coach. “That’s just kind of how I coach; if a guy’s playing well, we’re not just going to snatch a guy out of the game, especially if he’s not tired.”

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