[Toronto Star]Raptors' Garbajosa breaks leg

Too bad for him and the Raptors...

http://www.thestar.com/article/196335

Raptors' Garbajosa breaks leg
LISA HORNAK/REUTERS
Toronto Raptor Jose Calderon, left, consoles Jorge Garbajosa after the rookie forward broke his leg after colliding with Boston Celtic Al Jefferson in the fourth quarter of their NBA basketball game in Boston, Mass., March 26, 2007.

With Jorge Garbajosa unquestionably done for the rest of this season, Raptor coach Sam Mitchell is going to have to find someone to fill his starting small forward spot, someone who knows how to defend, plays with consistent intelligence and who can knock down a three-pointer.
Rookie forward goes down hard late in loss to Celtics, sent to Boston hospital
Mar 27, 2007 04:30 AM
Doug Smith
Sports Reporter

BOSTON–Jose Calderon sat silently at his locker, politely declining comment on the grisly injury his close friend had suffered about an hour earlier.

He couldn't speak because he didn't know how badly Jorge Garbajosa was hurt, how serious the obviously broken left leg and/or ankle Garbajosa suffered last night really is and what the long-term prognosis will be.

It hurt Calderon to see his buddy lying on the court in agony, his screams almost audible over the din of an NBA crowd. It hurt everybody connected with the game to watch the scene unfold.

"My prayers are with him," Chris Bosh said of Garbajosa. "I hope he's okay."

All team officials could say late last night was that Garbajosa, the 29-year-old Spanish rookie who has been such an integral part of Toronto's success this season, was at New England Baptist Hospital being examined by one of the Celtics' team physicians.

But there is no doubt the injury is a bad one, a season-ending one and it cast a pall on a Toronto team that came up with one of his worst efforts of the season in a 95-87 loss to the sad-sack Boston Celtics, owners of the second-worst record in the NBA at 21-49.

Trying to block an Al Jefferson dunk with about 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the game, Garbajosa landed awkwardly on his left leg and it snapped. He remained prone on the court with his foot twisted out at a right angle to his leg, one of the ugliest injuries a Raptor has ever suffered, as his teammates and the Celtics recoiled in horror. Jefferson put up his hands and couldn't bear to look.

Garbajosa was in obvious agony when he was wheeled off the court on a stretcher.

"I really thought he broke his leg," said Jefferson, who landed on Garbajosa as he completed the contested dunk. "When that happened, the first thing that came into my head was, `Why did he jump? Just let me go.'

"They need him for the playoffs, but he's a hard-working player and he's going to try and challenge every shot. I respect him for that. I know we bumped, my leg hit his leg and I looked down and he was just twisted up. He was screaming and I could feel his pain."

Before Garbajosa was injured, there was no logical explanation for what transpired except to suggest the Raptors simply forgot what it is they do so well.

Three nights after their most complete game of the season, the Raptors came up with one of their worst in a display of inexplicable Toronto lethargy at both ends of the court.

In a division game against an opponent reeling from three consecutive losses, the Raptors should have gone out and put them away early and decisively, proving they are worthy of a division title and a top-three playoff seed in the East.

But, no, not even close. They didn't start moving the ball crisply until the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late.

They managed to shoot only 40 per cent from the field; their 19 turnovers tied a season high; and, even though they clawed back in the game in the dying minutes, there was never a moment when it looked as if Toronto would win.

"Nobody played good," was coach Sam Mitchell's spot-on assessment. "We played bad, we had 19 turnovers, we didn't play the way we've been playing. We tried to make great passes instead of making the simple pass."

T.J. Ford, who scored 19 of his 28 points in the final quarter, had a season-high eight turnovers and Bosh, who took 19 shots to score 15 points, had five giveaways.

Toss in a ridiculously ineffective night from the bench – 15 points in total with Morris Peterson going scoreless in seven minutes and Kris Humphries unable to get a point or a rebound in his seven-minute stint – and it's a surprise Toronto kept the final score close.

"We weren't playing our brand of basketball. We were playing a little one-on-one," Peterson said. "When we play simple basketball, move the ball and find the guys in their spots, I think we can play with anybody, but when we don't, we lose to teams like Boston."