Hill finally playing, enjoying game

DALLAS – Grant Hill took a hard dribble, watched the lane split open then burst toward the basket past Dallas Maverick defenders with a head of steam. For a half-second, he looked not unlike his father did once in these parts.

Calvin Hill earned his paycheck as a shifty running back for the Dallas Cowboys, leaping over linemen when he couldn't plow through them and somewhere along the way he passed those remarkable athletic genes to his son.

Unfortunately for Grant, now with the Phoenix Suns, he hadn't had much use for such talent in recent years. He signed a $93 million contract with the Orlando Magic in the summer of 2000, but played in just 200 of a possible 574 games over the next seven seasons because of a debilitating left ankle injury he initially sustained with the Detroit Pistons. Grant had, in his own words, "sat a lot."

Five ankle operations, as well as the 35 years Grant now carries, had robbed him of some of his lift. In its place, Grant had improved his midrange jump shot and developed an effective finger roll, the latter of which his father thought he might now use as he drove to the rim in Wednesday night's second quarter.

But as Calvin and just about everyone else seated in the American Airlines Center soon discovered, Grant Hill had no intention of going soft. DeSagana Diop rotated in front of the basket and Hill sprung off the floor, scaling the Mavericks' 7-foot center. Hill briefly cocked the ball in his right hand before punching it through the rim for a thunderous dunk.

Suns forward Shawn Marion bounded off the bench, astonished by the show of force from his aging teammate. Diop looked more stunned than embarrassed, and for good reason.

"Duke-Michigan, NCAA championship game," Suns general manager Steve Kerr said when asked the last time he had seen such bounce in Hill's legs.

"I think this one," Kerr said, "was for Dad."

The Suns would go on to lose 108-105 to the Mavericks. Hill finished with nine points, four rebounds and four assists. He also had an impressive two-handed dunk in the first quarter, but admitted he hadn't played well overall, certainly not as well as he had performed two nights earlier in San Antonio when he scored 22 points and beat the Spurs with a clutch jump shot and weak-side block of Tim Duncan in the final minute.

In some small respect, however, the outcome of both games was inconsequential. What mattered just as much to Hill was that these games meant something. The filled-to-capacity arenas. The tension-thick playoff atmosphere. Two loathed rivals. Hill had experienced too little of all of that in recent seasons.

"Just to be in that situation, when it was questioned whether you would ever play," Hill said. "To watch for many years important games, whether in the regular season or the postseason, and actually take part in that, it's like a reward for all that I've been through."

Hill has endured more than most players, albeit also while making considerably more money than most of his peers. He had surgery on his left ankle three times only to have each return derailed by complications. After the first operation, Hill was allowed to do too much too soon against his doctor's wishes, his father said. When Hill had a fourth operation in March 2003, he developed a life-threatening staph injection that required a fifth procedure – the one that ultimately revived his career – on his ankle.

"I'm going to the car wash and my wife calls and says Grant's been rushed to the hospital," Calvin Hill said. "She said Tamia (Hill's wife) thinks he's dying. I said, 'From an ankle injury?' "

Calvin visited his son at the hospital and saw the effects of the infection. "It looked like an earthquake had hit his ankle," he said.

Hill sat out all of the 2003-04 season then averaged 19.7 points over 67 games the following year when he was named an All-Star. A hernia and groin and abdominal injuries limited him to 21 games in 2005-06, but he played in 65 last season. After Hill watched ESPN analyst Bill Walton walking gingerly because of injuries he sustained years ago during his playing career, he remarked to a writer that it "makes you think about getting out of this game." The next day Hill awoke to a headline saying he was mulling retirement.

In truth, Hill says he never really gave retirement much thought after his contract with the Orlando Magic expired this summer. He still liked the game and he felt healthy. Sitting so much had reduced the wear and tear on his body, so he figured he still had a few seasons left in the tank.

"It's a testament to him to put in all the work," said Mavericks guard Jerry Stackhouse. "I mean, a lot of guys might have called it a day. Obviously, he's not going to have any financial burden.

"Every year it's been something. But now he found a team, found a niche, he can get up and down the floor. It fits his style."

Hill signed with Phoenix for the team's $1.8 million salary-cap exception, turning down more money from other teams. The Suns gave him a chance to win and a starting job.

"I think actually I had to adjust to more responsibility here," Hill said. "Here coach was like, 'I want you to play like an All-Star. I'm going to put the ball in your hands. I want you to make plays.'

"I'm doing things I really haven't been asked to do since I was in Detroit. As opposed to, 'We don't want to give you a lot of responsibility because we're worried you might break down.' "

Hill hasn't missed a game yet this season. He entered Wednesday averaging 17.6 points on 54.1 percent shooting over the previous 18 games, leading Suns coach Mike D'Antoni to say "he's playing at the All-Star level." Hill has even made 35 percent of his 60 three-pointers, a shot he had attempted only 40 times during his seven seasons in Orlando.

"He's just rejuvenated," Kerr said. "A little bit of it, I think, is the (Kevin) Garnett-to-Boston type thing. You get a fresh start. You get a second wind. You're happy.

"He's been a godsend for us."

Kerr expected Hill to score, but underestimated his defense. At different times, the Suns have assigned him to guard every position but center. Hill also has surprisingly averaged 35 minutes a game.

"He's to the point now where he's comfortable and pain-free," Kerr said. "He's just going. I don't worry about him at all. Maybe I should, but I don't."

Calvin said Tamia recently told him how much Hill has enjoyed this season. He likes his teammates. He likes the Suns' medical and training staffs. And for possibly the first time since he starred at Duke, he feels like he has a legitimate chance to win a championship.

Seated a few rows behind the Suns' bench Wednesday, Calvin Hill could see all that for himself.

"If you watch him, he's happy," Calvin said. "And ultimately, that's what you want your child to be."