Wednesday night, in the second quarter of the Lakers second ugly loss to start the season, Steve Nash and Blazers rookie Damian Lillard collided and Nash was clearly hurt, heading to the locker room.
He came back out for the second half, but it quickly became clear that he was not right and he played just 1:16 before heading back to the locker room.
The Lakers are calling it a shin contusion and saying they don’t know if this will keep him out of Friday’s game against the Clippers. Nash will be re-evaluated on Thursday.
Nash said he wants to play but even he has no idea, as reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
“I guess I wouldn’t want to say right now (whether he will play) but I’m definitely hopeful,” Nash told reporters after the game….
“It was sore but I went out to try and play and then I planted on it and it just kind of gave out on me,” Nash said. “It was sore and functionally I couldn’t plant on it, or push off on it, or accelerate.”
Nash had only 2 points and 4 assists in his limited play. While it didn’t seem like it to Lakers fans, the offense actually was better Wednesday night, putting up 106 points and scoring 113.1 points per 100 possessions. That will get you wins most nights… if you play any defense. But that has done the Lakers in two games in a row now — the Lakers gave up 108.7 points per 100 possessions to Dallas and then 113.1 to Portland. Keep playing like that over the course of the season and it would be one of the very worst defenses in the NBA (Charlotte was worst in the league at 110.4 last season).