"Grant Hill sat courtside at Staples Center Tuesday morning and faced his inevitable grilling.

A little more than 12 hours before on the same court he now sat adjacent to, Hill and the Phoenix Suns let Kobe Bryant and the Lakers torch them for 128 points in a blowout loss to the defending world champions in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

Bryant was Hill's responsibility and defensive assignment, and with the Lakers superstar scoring 40 points in one of those vintage Bryant performances, Hill had some explaining to do to the group of reporters gathered around him.

He answered every question with a smile.

He contently explained each defensive lapse, every potential adjustment the Suns might make and what their mind-set is for tonight's Game 2 with the ease of a guy lounging by the pool at a five-star resort.

This was fun for Hill, enjoyable.

Not the losing, mind you. It's the playing,

the participating.

It's still being in the NBA, still competing and offering something valuable to a team.

And yes, it's even the part where he sits in front of a group of reporters trying to put a blowout loss in perspective.

"After going through everything I've gone through in my career, to be sitting here talking about adjustments before Game 2 of the conference finals I'll take that any time," Hill said. "For me, it's a blessing to be here."

One he doesn't take for granted, not after the hell he went through for such a large stretch of his 16-year career.

There was a time not long ago when the 37-year-old Hill was one of the five best basketball players on the planet, a smooth, wiry, 6-foot-8 forward who could defend everyone from point guards to power forwards, handle the ball, pass, rebound, direct an offense and be the go-to player at crunch time.

Over a three-year stretch early in his career in Detroit, Hill led the Pistons in points, rebounds and assists.

"There wasn't much he couldn't do," Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said.

Except stay healthy.

As blessed as Hill was with a skill set equal to the best to ever play the game, Hill was just as unfortunate with injuries.

After moving from Detroit to Orlando in 2000, Hill played in just 47 games over the next three seasons while suffering from chronic ankle injuries. He sat out all of 2003-04 after undergoing a surgical procedure in which doctors refractured his ankle and realigned it with his leg bone.

To make matters worse, five days after the surgery Hill contracted a near-fatal infection that hospitalized him for a week.

For a player who lost nearly the entire prime of his career to health problems, the illness was like adding insult to injury. "