April 4, 2000 - Grant Hill scored 32 points and Jerry Stackhouse 28 as the Detroit Pistons defeated the Toronto Raptors 104-88 in the latter portion of the 1999-2000 regular season. The victory pushed the Pistons to 10-5 under interim head coach George Irvine. Irvine, a six year ABA veteran and former teammate of George Gervin, took over for Alvin Gentry, who was relieved of his duties following a 28-30 start that was mired with inconsistency and defensive lapses.
The Pistons finished 14-10 under Irvine, yielding a seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. All was not well on the Pistons front, however. Grant Hill, in the final year of his contract, had begun to feel ankle pain in mid-March. By mid-April, Hill had pulled himself from the lineup. After an MRI revealed a bone bruise, Hill sat out the final three games of the regular season.
Years later, on a FoxSports podcast in 2011, Hill opened up about what transpired during his team's first round series against the Miami Heat.
“It’s still bothering me,” Hill said, regarding his ankle pain. “I pull myself in the third quarter (of Game 1). They put me on some heavy medication and we had a long break between Game 1 and Game 2. While I was on this medication I felt great. Obviously it was masking the pain. Went out and played in Game 2 and I felt a pop in the second quarter, continued on in the third quarter and couldn’t go on. When we got back, we found out it was broken.
“I (had been) told everything was fine. I even found out that certain team doctors were questioning whether I was really hurt, thinking I was soft or whatever. This was after I had pulled myself fcsb - unirea slobozia from Game 2 against the Heat. product recall At that time, when I found out I had broken my ankle, as crazy as this sounds, I was relieved. I finally had some confirmation, I finally had proof that I’m really not making it up.”
The Pistons were swept 3-0 in their best-of-five series. That offseason, Hill agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Orlando Magic, joining forces with Tracy McGrady. In return for Hill, the Pistons received Chucky Atkins and Ben Wallace, the latter of whom would go on to win four Defensive Player of the Year awards in Detroit while also leading the team to an NBA championship in 2004.
Hill, meanwhile, largely due to organizational injury mismanagement, appeared in just 47 games for the Magic over the next corrado augias four seasons. In 2005, Hill returned to form, averaging 19.7 points per game as a 32-year-old, earning the seventh all-star selection of his career. Despite missing out on a large portion of his prime, Hill's health stabilized and he was able to stretch his NBA career until his 40th birthday.
Summary of Hill's 2011 podcast comments:
Alvin Gentry fired:
Staph infection on ankle threatening Hill's life:
Raptors-Pistons Box Score:
