NBA, Player News / Analysis, Steve Nash, Los Angeles Lakers , Steve Nash injury
This is not good news for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Steve Nash was originally reported to have a small non-displaced fracture, and would be out from one to six weeks. It's now been three weeks and Nash is still injured. He'll be reevaluated on Monday, but as of now he's not even able to jog without feeling pain.
Nash's absence is bad on several levels. On a personal level, every day he can't workout, he's going to have to work harder to get into shape. He's always in good shape, but to run Coach Mike D'Antoni's offense, he'll need to be in even better shape than he was before. The faster paced offense is visibly a bit harder for guys like Kobe Bryant who have been playing all season. It will make the recovery process longer.
On a team level, the guys are making due with Chris Duhon and Darius Morris, and they've been doing pretty well. However, this team was struggling with chemistry and learning each others playing styles before Nash got injured. Both Bryant and Dwight Howard expressed how they've had to learn to play with Nash because he's so elite as his position.
Luckily, the new coach knows Nash well, so adjustments won't be needed there, and Nash understands the system. D'Antoni spoke about this, saying, "As soon as [Nash] gets there, I know, give him an hour and a half and he'll have the offense down and running it like a clock.”
He's also expressed how Nash is essential to making this offense work.
The Lakers have been hanging in there with their current point guards, and Steve Blake's absence isn't too harmful since he's nowhere near the PG Nash is, but things should shape up with Nash back. The problem is that no one knows when that will be.
