Cleveland's Hill Returns To Top Form After Accident

CLEVELAND - There were times last season when Tyrone Hill would tell his body to jump, and it wouldn't. He would tell himself to get to the basket, and he couldn't.

Now, a year after suffering a potentially career-ending spinal injury, Hill is back with the Cleveland Cavaliers, maybe better than ever.

Hill missed 38 games last season after bruising his spinal cord in a car accident. He was warned that his basketball days might be over.

"The pain was last year, watching him suffer," Cavalier Coach Mike Fratello said, after Hill had 21 points and 13 rebounds in Cleveland's 91-82 victory over the Toronto Raptors Friday night. "It was eating him up that he could not do the things he was capable of doing."

With a season-high in points against the Raptors, Hill continued a comeback that seems to amaze everyone but him.

"I'm just glad I can walk and I'm able to play again," Hill said.

Hill's game never has been dazzling, going back to his days at Xavier and with the Golden State Warriors. In his best season, he averaged 13.8 points and 10.9 rebounds with the Cavs in 1994-95, when he made the All-Star team.

Hill has a knack for grabbing loose balls and getting to the basket through even the worst traffic jams. He is averaging 12.8 points and 9.8 rebounds.

"I think there are a lot of players like Tyrone who are just hard workers," center Mark West said. "Moses Malone was probably the best of them, just working and getting to all the garbage balls. A.C. Green was like that. Otis Thorpe. I think Horace Grant is that type of player.

"They're not superstars, but they're definitely up there."

Hill specializes in the double-double, but there is no statistic to measure what players like Hill do. No basket is pretty, bodies collide on every miss.

Since the back injury, Hill treats every game like it's his last.

"You never know when that day is going to come," Hill said. "I didn't think like that before the accident."