The reunion between Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash and head coach Mike D’Antoni keeps getting pushed back. I guess Nash is not healing exactly how the team had planned, but they do not want to rush the 38-year-old veteran back and risk losing him for the whole season.
Nash’s backup is Steve Blake, who has been out for a few weeks with a torn abdominal muscle. Now it looks like it is going to be a lot longer.
Blake is going to have surgery on Wednesday to repair the tear and is scheduled to be out six to eight weeks.
So where does that leave the struggling 8-9 Lakers? With Chris Duhon and Darius Morris playing point guard.
Duhon has been getting most of the minutes at point guard recently, but Morris has had his fair share. The Lakers also have rookie Darius Johnson-Odom out of Marquette currently playing for their D-League team, the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
The season of disappointments continues for the Lakers who had expectations through the roof after assembling one of the most talented starting fives of all time. A lot of people thought the only thing that would slow this team down would be a lack of chemistry or injuries.
Unfortunately for L.A., they have had both.
The Lakers are sitting at a game below .500 and show no real signs of improvement. They can hope all they want that Steve Nash will come back and be the spark that finally gets this team going, but until that day, they are still going to have to find a way to tread water.
The loss of their top two point guards is only part of what is sinking this team, but it is a big part and one they are going to have to hope gets fixed. The Lakers play tonight in Houston, and somebody is going to have to step up and run the point.
Image: LA Times
