Players offer prayers for fallen Calderon

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TORONTO - Jose Calderon, the backup point guard for the Toronto Raptors, was pronounced "neurologically intact" after an awkward fall in the dying seconds of yesterday's 120-115 victory over the Golden State Warriors left him motionless on the Air Canada Centre floor.

Calderon was rushed to hospital for a precautionary examination. The Raptors, in a release, described the Spaniard's condition as "a soft tissue injury with no significant underlying bone, neurological or major organ damage."

For a long time, as he lay motionless on the court, the worst was feared.

"He does have movement in his arms, all his limbs, and neck," Raptors spokesman Jim LaBumbard said. "He is neurologically intact, and that's the big thing right now, for sure."

Raptors players already have a harrowing history of spinal injuries. When he was with Milwaukee, starting point guard T.J. Ford missed the final 26 games of his rookie season, the playoffs, and the entire 2004-05 season after he suffered a bruised spinal cord and required surgery to fuse two vertebrae after a collision Feb. 24, 2004, with Mark Madsen of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Forward Pape Sow, meanwhile, suffered a fractured vertebrae, and temporary paralysis, after a teammate crashed into him during a practice in Las Vegas for Toronto's summer league team.

"It was bringing back memories, but I was praying that what happened to me didn't happen to him," Sow said. "Because I knew how hard it was. Thank God he's talking, he's moving. I couldn't do that when it first happened to me. I'm very glad he's moving."

"We said a prayer, and we continue to pray that he's OK," Ford said. "It definitely brought memories back to the time when I was injured, and I had to be taken off the court."

Ford has a condition called spinal stenosis, meaning a narrowed spinal column, and required surgery to correct the condition. Sow, meanwhile, has spent this season recovering from his injury.

Calderon went down fighting for a defensive rebound, as Warriors swingman Mickael Pietrus appeared to throw him aside to the floor with 32.4 seconds left. Calderon's torso twisted as he was pulled backwards over Pietrus' knee, and he hit the floor. Almost nobody saw the play.

"I was just kind of following the flight of the ball, and I heard him when he hit the ground," said Toronto coach Sam Mitchell, who did not take any questions about the game. "And I looked, and normally, Jose, in a situation like that, would get right back up. But you know, when he was down for a while, I'm just glad nobody fell on him or stepped on him.

"I just heard him scream. So when you make a sound like that, you know something's wrong."

Calderon landed on his stomach, and immediately raised his hand and head up to indicate he was injured. He then laid motionless, as the arena fell silent and players from both teams stood watching. Sow stood with his hands clasped together in prayer, covering his face.

Eventually, Calderon was gently flipped onto his back, fitted with a neck brace, then eased onto a spinal board. Tears ran down his cheeks, but upon being lifted on a gurney, Calderon gave a wave to the crowd as he was wheeled into the back, garnering a roar from a shocked ACC crowd.

He felt pain in his lower torso," LaBumbard said.

Forward Jorge Garbajosa, a long-time friend of Calderon and his teammate on Spain's world championship-winning team, was visibly shaken, and accompanied Calderon's wife, Ana, as she joined her husband at the hospital. Calderon was said to be in good spirits.

"The game, as important as it is, it's not more important than Jose," Mitchell said. "I think all the players in there are a little shook because of what happened to Pape this summer. And you know, Jose means a lot to us. This is our job, this is what we do, but we as individuals and people are more important than basketball.

"So we just hope and pray that he is OK. Our guys competed hard, and for right now the basketball game is secondary to Jose's health, and we're just hoping that he is OK."