Sampson Has Scare, Apparently Nothing Worse After Bad Fall

Ralph Sampson of the Houston Rockets was reported to have no broken bones Monday night when he fell after leaping for a rebound in an NBA game against the Boston Celtics.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, where Sampson was taken for X-rays, trainer Dick Vandervoort said: “All (the pain) he feels right now is a stiff neck. He has the feeling back in his legs.”

Earlier, it was feared Sampson had a broken back.

Vandervoort said X-rays and a CAT-scan of Sampson’s head, legs and neck proved negative. Sampson left the hospital and spent the night at a hotel with the Rockets.

Earlier Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss said: “The X-rays of the neck and head were negative.”

Twiss said the feeling and motion in Sampson’s right leg improved after the player initially said he had no feeling or sensation in the leg.

“Movement is coming back more and more in the right leg,” he said.

The fall came in the second quarter and, according to Dr. Thomas Silva, the Celtics’ team physician, it “resulted in a definite loss of the right neurological process in his right leg.”

The game was delayed for nine minutes before Sampson was carried off the court on a gurney. The feeling in the leg began to return in the dressing room before Sampson was taken to the hospital.

Silva was first concerned that there was “a possibility of a fracture of the mid-back.”

Twiss added that Sampson had had a contusion of his upper back, but his blood pressure and other vital signs were normal when he left for the hospital. He added that movement on the left side of Sampson’s body was “fine.”

Sampson was hurt with 2:19 left in the second quarter when he leaned backward while jumping under his own basket and hit the back of his head and the upper part of his back on the floor.

Said Houston Coach Bill Fitch: “He was in a lot of pain, a lot of pain. I’m not concerned about the loss. . . . The only important thing is if Ralph’s back is all right and there is no disc problem. . . . If he needs a little R&R; in the Bahamas, I’ll take him there myself.”

Houston forward Robert Reid said: “He went up for a two-handed rebound. . . . He seemed to skid on the floor.

“He was scared. . . . Anyone would be at that time with a doctor asking if you can feel this touch or that touch. . . . The only thing he was saying was, ‘Oh, my God. Oh, my God.’ ”

Twiss said Sampson felt nauseous on the court but did not lose consciousness. He added that the three-year NBA veteran “was very calm” while being examined in the locker room and was able to recognize those around him.

As he was wheeled on a stretcher from the locker room to the ambulance about 50 yards away in a lobby area, Sampson moved his head from side to side and also moved his arms. While on the stretcher, he was wearing his Rockets uniform, but had no sneakers on.

Sampson asked if someone would call his mother in Virginia so she wouldn’t worry.

The 7-foot-4 Sampson, 25, was the game’s leading scorer with 17 points when he was hurt with Houston leading, 53-51.

Sampson, who had played in all 71 of the Rockets’ games, led the team in rebounding with an average of 11.6 per game and was second in scoring with 19.6 points per game.

Sampson was the first player selected in the 1983 draft and was that year’s NBA Rookie of the Year when he led the Rockets in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots.

Last season, when the Rockets drafted Akeem Olajuwon, Sampson was moved to forward. He still ranked 11th in the league in rebounding and 19th in scoring, and was selected to the second All-NBA team.

Sampson came to the Rockets after a brilliant college career at Virginia, where he was an All-American for three years and Player of the Year from 1981-83. His scoring and rebounding led the Cavaliers to three Atlantic Coast Conference titles and four straight postseason tournament bids. They won the National Invitation Tournament in 1980 and finished third in the NCAA tournament in 1981.