Los Angeles Lakers star continues to struggle to contribute.
Steve Nash’s season continues to be plagued by injury as he failed to finish another game as the Los Angeles Lakers lost 113-90 to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Nash, a former two-time MVP, struggled through just 13 minutes of action, recording just two points and three assists before being pulled from the game by coach Mike D’Antoni with 1.42 minutes left in the second quarter.
“It’s tough,” Nash said after the game.
“I hesitate to even talk about it now because it’s probably not a good time. I’m a little emotional. It’s hard. I really want to play and I really want to play the way I am accustomed to playing. To be so limited is frustrating and also to not know where kind of a cleanish bill of health is [coming] is a little daunting, too.”
D’Antoni said he didn’t want to push Nash any more in a game that his side was always up against it.
“I’m concerned,” D’Antoni said. “He was struggling physically tonight. You could just see it on his face. That’s why I took him out and we shut him down, more or less. He was struggling.”
Nash, the oldest player in the NBA this season, is averaging 7.6 points and 5.2 assists a game at a horrible 27 per cent from the floor.
The point guard said he is still struggling with nerve damage issues stemming from the broken leg his suffered last season, which kept him out of the Lakers line-up for 32 games.
“I still feel that almost every day all over,” Nash said of the nerve discomfort.
“It’s not just in that spot [in his left leg]. It’s like the nerve system and nerve roots are on guard. So the whole system in a way is different now. It’s just a little more sensitive, and you face different things because of it.
“So, freaky, freaky thing, but I can’t complain. I’m still playing basketball and I’m still effective and I can get better physically and my game will come around the more I play.”
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