THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — T.J. Ford played some three-on-three at practice Tuesday, stayed behind afterwards to work on his shooting, then declared himself feeling a lot better.
And that’s good news for an injury-depleted Toronto Raptors squad that may have to face Canada’s Steve Nash and the red-hot Phoenix Suns on Wednesday without its three best players.
Ford has missed five games with a "stinger" in his arm, while Chris Bosh has sat out three straight with a strained groin, and Andrea Bargnani is sidelined with a hyperextended knee.
Ford appears the most likely to play.
"Right now, it’s looking good for (Wednesday)," Ford said. "Today’s feeling a lot better, I’m getting proper treatment on it, getting a lot of massages and I definitely think it’s helping."
Bosh did some light shooting at practice, but coach Sam Mitchell said "he probably won’t play." Bargnani didn’t practise at all, and Mitchell confirmed the sophomore centre won’t play.
Ford may be a game-time decision. The point guard suffered a similar injury in last season’s playoff series against New Jersey. He was in pain in the morning before Game 6, but returned hours later to say he was good to go.
"In the morning he was sensitive to the touch, he came back that night and said `I feel fine,"’ Mitchell said. "With him, it’s just a day-to-day thing with how he feels. So we’ll see how he feels in the morning."
Jose Calderon has played superbly filling in for Ford, but he could use his point guard partner back Wednesday as Toronto (10-8) tries to stretch its home winning streak to five games. Ford and Calderon give the Raptors two different options to throw at Nash, the two-time league MVP and the league-leader in assists.
"He can do everything, and that’s what is difficult because he can score by himself or he can make plays for his teammates," Calderon said.
The 33-year-old Nash is averaging 18.9 points and 11.1 assists a night, and because of his diversity the crafty Canadian is a nightmare to guard.
"You’ve got to try to get the ball out of his hands. And he’s capable of scoring 30 points, so you can’t say make him score, because he’s smart enough to understand the nights that he needs to score, he scores," said Mitchell. "We’ve got Plan A, B and C (to defend against him)… After that I don’t know."
With Nash running the offence, the hard-running Suns, who were 13-4 heading into their game Tuesday at Indiana, share the ball more than maybe any other team in the league — which makes them all the more hard to handle.
"As a defender, you prefer to defend one-on-one than when a team shares the ball, because the ball travels faster than the man," said Raptors guard Carlos Delfino. "They make the ball travel too fast. It’s a tough team to play, it’s a tough matchup for us, and I think it’s a team we need to learn from.
"We share the ball a lot, but they are like the masters." .
Calderon, who leads the NBA in assists-to-turnovers ratio, said he watches tape of Nash in action to try to learn from the Victoria native.
One thing the pair already have in common is that they were relatively late bloomers, Calderon struggling his first season in the NBA after playing pro in Spain and Nash sputtering in his first few seasons in the league.
"I think the NBA is not easy to just come in and play good," Calderon said. "My first year was really tough, we were losing a lot of games, you’re not used to that. I was coming from a championship team in Spain (Tau Ceramica), and you come here and lose in the first week more games than I lost in the whole season.
"But you have to try to get better every day and keep fighting to be here. Now I just play and feel comfortable and I feel really good in the NBA."
Nash scorched the Raptors in his lone appearance north of the border last season — a Suns’ 100-98 victory. He scored all but two of his 15 points in the final quarter and eight of his team’s final nine points, including a three-pointer with just over a minute left that came a mere four seconds after a Toronto basket.
The Suns also beat the Raptors at home last season, posting a 115-98 victory at Phoenix.
