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MIAMI — T.J. Ford surprised just about everybody, even himself.
The Toronto Raptors point guard was playing last night for the first time after a terrifying moment on Dec. 11, when he left the court on a stretcher after being slammed to the floor in a victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
He was back after one practice with the team Sunday in Miami.
He was back with a hug from fellow Raptors point guard Jose Calderon as he came into the game early in the second quarter.
Raptors forward Chris Bosh shoots as Miami Heat forward Alexander Johnson defends in the first quarter. (Lynne Sladky/AP)
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- Miami Heat
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He was back with a late-game driving dunk for Toronto's final points, an exclamation point on the easy 114-82 victory over the Miami Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena and on his own return.
Ford, who missed 24 games with a left-arm stinger, scored four points, had four assists and played 16 minutes 45 seconds.
He said he did not anticipate coming back to play this soon after working out for three weeks in Houston with former NBA coach and player John Lucas. Lucas also helped Ford come back after neck surgery forced him to miss all the 2004-05 season with the Milwaukee Bucks.
But Ford felt that good about Sunday's practice that he wanted to dress for the game and, if the team co-operated by piling on the points early to create an opportunity, for head coach Sam Mitchell to give him playing time.
"As a team, it's hard for us to play much better than what we played tonight," Mitchell said.
The Raptors shot 59.5 per cent from the floor and had a total of 31 assists as a team, 10 from Calderon. But much of the joy in the dressing room after the game was for Ford.
"I think the performance speaks for itself," Ford said. "I don't think people expected me to come in and still do the same things that I normally do. I don't think people anticipated that.
"It felt good," he said of the game's final dunk. "I think over all I played real good. I was excited. … I've just to build on this game."
He said he was still a "work in progress," but as far as conditioning, "I think I'm great" and "my timing, I think it was great."
He said he was not limited "at all."
"The biggest thing is that I am healthy, I'm not hurt, I'm not playing hurt," Ford said. "I think that's the difference [from] a couple of months ago, when I came back — playing injured."
Raptors all-star forward Chris Bosh, who scored a game-high 24 points, said he was happy to see Ford out on the floor.
"Glad to have him back," he said. "Back like old times. I knew he was down in Houston working hard though, that was the whole purpose of the trip."
Sophomore centre Andrea Bargnani came up with another good game, scoring 22 points, while Anthony Parker added 18 for the Raptors.
Former Heat forward Jason Kapono scored 13 as his former team lost for the 19th time in the past 20 games to fall to 9-37. The Raptors are 26-21.
Miami was again without centre Shaquille O'Neal, who has acute inflammation of the hip and quadriceps.
At yesterday's morning shoot-around, Ford had talked about his training time with Lucas. "You've got to break yourself down and build yourself back up," he said.
The Raptors built up a 33-12 lead after the first quarter, and it was 39-18 when Ford replaced Calderon with 9:55 left in the second.
"Too quick, too efficient, too ready," Miami head coach Pat Riley said. "That was Toronto in the first quarter. It was just an absolute basketball clinic."
