It could happen Saturday. Steve Nash practiced with the Lakers Thursday full out, and is expected to practice again on Friday.
Then Saturday afternoon he says he’ll decide if he is ready to play against Golden State that night on the road.
But he’s thinking Christmas Day against the Knicks. He’s taking it slow. Here is what Nash said, via Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLA.com.“There’s no plan. I just want to get through today, see how I feel in the morning,” Nash said. “If I’m able to practice (Friday), see how I feel Saturday, we’ll just see how it goes. But I think Christmas is probably the most realistic….
“I think the tendency is to rush back, but you definitely have to be careful,” he said. “I don’t want to rush back for two games and then be out for another extended period of time.”
Both Kobe Bryant and Mike D’Antoni said they thought Nash looked good. Of course, what are they going to say? He’s going to be rusty and one of the best conditioned athletes in the NBA is going to take a while to get back to being himself.
But starting Christmas we might finally get to see what the Lakers can look like with their entire team in place. Of course, they are facing a Knicks team that is playing as well as anyone in the league right now, so maybe this will not be the best time to judge them.