A rare sight as Hill ends habit of an April hiatus

ORLANDO - Seeing Grant Hill on a basketball court in April is as jarring as seeing an ice-fishing house on Lake Owasso in July.

When Hill, the Orlando Magic's oft-hobbled veteran forward, faced the Timberwolves on Sunday at Amway Arena, it was far more than a routine late-season appearance for him. It was Hill's first NBA action in April since 2000, when he played with Detroit and was considered a successor to Michael Jordan rather than the poster guy of sports injuries.

"Grant Hill is an amazing story," said Wolves guard Troy Hudson, whose own litany of ailments makes Hill something of a role model. "I was saying earlier in the day the kind of player he is and, 'What if he wouldn't have gotten hurt, the things teams would have had to face.' When he's only 60 or 70 percent, he's still one of the best forwards in the league."

In Hill's first six seasons after joining Orlando in a sign-and-trade deal, he missed 357 of 492 games because of injuries. This season, he has made 57 appearances, averaging 14.1 points and 30.6 minutes, although he was hurt when these teams played at Target Center in November. Sunday, he had 23 points on 10-for-16 shooting while playing more than 45 minutes in the Magic's 105-104 loss.

"This is the first time I've played in April since 2000. We're in the playoff hunt. So I'm excited," Hill said Saturday after the Magic's morning shootaround. "I didn't know if I'd ever play again, so to be in this situation, it's a great thrill."

It's a testament to tenacity, too. Lesser players have retired with guaranteed millions.

"You have to respect that," Hudson said. "He's battling through. I feel like I'm finally healthy, and for what he's had to make it through, his injuries had to be twice as worse as mine. But I know he's had God in his life, so he's a humble person and he's been able to make it."

Hill will be a free agent this summer. Given Kevin Garnett's desire for more veterans in the Wolves' locker room ...

"Ha ha ha. You never know," Hill said, walking away quickly. "I'm just trying to get through the season."

NCAA bragging rights

Hill's Duke teams won back-to-back NCAA men's championships in 1991 and 1992. Wolves coach Randy Wittman was part of Indiana's title team in 1981, and guard Rashad McCants won it with North Carolina in 2005. Those were the only three on either roster who experienced the heights of winning the collegiate championship.

"When I was a kid growing up in Indiana, basketball was everything in that state," Wittman said. "As soon as the championship game was over, you went in the back yard and pretended you were playing in it. When we played the championship game in Philadelphia in 1981, right before tipoff, I thought, 'Hell, I've played this game 100 times in the back yard, this should be no big deal.' "

That particular game was a double-big deal, because it nearly got postponed. President Ronald Reagan had been shot that day, and the game wasn't green-lighted until Reagan was out of danger.

"We didn't know all the way up until an hour before game time," Wittman said. "We were in the locker room, and they told everybody to sit tight. They weren't going to do anything until the president came out of surgery."

Howard eyes KG

Wittman, in spending last season as an assistant on Orlando coach Brian Hill's staff, worked with Dwight Howard, the Magic's man-child power forward. The two talked on more than one occasion about Wittman's years as a witness to Garnett's development.

"We talked a lot about Kevin," the Wolves coach said. "I think he looked up to Kevin as a kid growing up, as an idol or somebody of that nature."

What most impressed Howard? Garnett's work ethic. "His ability to get better every year, to add something to his game," Wittman said. "It's not just going to happen if you don't put forth the effort, and that's one thing that Dwight has. He likes to be in the gym. He likes to work on it."

Steve Aschburner • saschburner@startribune.com