One of the biggest issues for the Lakers in their 2012-13 campaign was their collective injury issues. Steve Nash was one of the main culprits on the injury report. He started off the season with a minor fracture in his leg during the second game of the season and ended the year with back and hamstring issues.
In the Lakers fourth preseason game on Thursday night, Nash left the game with soreness in left ankle and did not return for the second half.
From the reports, the severity of the ankle didn’t seem too high, but the team felt it was best for Nash to sit the rest of the night out. Nash spoke after the game about his ankle.
“I could never get it that loose in the warmups, it’s a minor thing,” said Nash to reporters after the game. “It happened a week or two before the season and kind of limited me a little in camp just to be cautious. Tonight is just one of those nights that, for whatever reason, just wasn’t moving freely and couldn’t get it to loosen up. It was starting to get worse.”
Nash also mentioned that he plans on playing when the team travels to China next week, and will rest and rehab to prepare for their next exhibition game. Head coach Mike D’Antoni said that he feels that Nash will miss time off and on this whole year.
“I’m not concerned, I think this will happen off and on the whole year,” said D’Antoni to Time Warner Cable SportsNet. “He’s going to give you a good season and good stuff, but we have to take care of him.”
With Nash being the oldest player in the NBA, it won’t be uncommon to see him missing games this season. The team already discussed the idea of him sitting on the second half of back-to-backs to give him some rest.
That being said, the overall health of the rest of the backcourt will be a priority of the training staff. The Lakers were hurting a bit in the second half with Steve Blake the only real option at point guard. After Blake took a breather, Jodie Meeks and Darius Johnson-Odom were tasked with handling the ball. Farmar has been out for the last two games with calf issues, but should be back with the team soon.
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