Charlie Bell, who has been sidelined with a sprained right knee for the past six weeks, practiced at the Cousins Center and said he could be back in the lineup when the Bucks play the Toronto Raptors on Friday night at home.

Bell's return would bring some relief to a guard corps that also has been missing regulars T.J. Ford and Mo Williams at various times in the past few weeks. Ford was out for two games with a strained left hamstring before starting in the Bucks' 97-80 home-court loss to Houston on Monday.

After a two-game absence because of a hamstring strain, point guard T.J. Ford will be back in uniform when the Milwaukee Bucks take on the Houston Rockets on Monday at the Bradley Center.

"I'll be ready," Ford said. "For sure."

Whether Ford starts remains to be seen. When Ford returned for a game on Jan. 7 at Cleveland after sitting out four games with a left foot injury, coach Terry Stotts started Williams and brought Ford in off the bench.

Ford played 39 minutes that night, and it was in that game that he first hurt his hamstring. He played six games after that before finally sitting out the Atlanta game.

In hindsight, Ford said, he probably tried to do too much too soon against Cleveland.

"It was just a matter of me being out two weeks and coming back and feeling good but my body was still kind of, you know . . . I was feeling good but my body just wasn't used to it that quick."