Cary Edmondson- US Presswire
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Lakers‘ NBA playoffs postseason officially begins when they play the San Antonio Spurs. With the exception of Kobe Bryant and Jordan Hill, it looks like the Lakers may have the entire line up healthy in time for tip-off.
Steve Nash told the ESPN that he expects to return for the playoff opener on Sunday, “Mentally, I’m champing at the bit and physically, I’m getting there” he said. ”So, I’m very optimistic that I’ll be able to play on Sunday, and I just don’t want to overpromise and get ahead of myself. The last three weeks now, I wake up every morning thinking, ‘Today’s the day,’ and then I want to hang myself after practice. So, I don’t want to overpromise at this point, but I’m very optimistic.”
Nash has been out for since March 30 with a right hip and hamstring injury. According to ESPN, on Friday, he took part in his first full practice since March. Before his injury, Nash was averaging 12.7 points and 6.7 assists per game for the Lakers this season. However, he had missed 38 games due to various injuries.
In the meantime, what the Lakers have in the backcourt with Steve Blake has been working really well. Jodie Meeks deserves credit for picking up the slack as well but Blake has been one of the most important factors in the recent Lakers wins. In the last two games which slid the Lakers into the seventh playoff spot, Blake averaged 23.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.0 steals against teams that the Lakers typically wouldn’t have been able to beat.
The postseason is not the right time to try and mess with the successful system they’ve spent the entire regular season finding. Blake helped bring the Lakers to the playoffs. Blake helped them beat the Spurs last Sunday when he put up 23 points, he’s the proven best choice right now.
If Nash and Blake play together in the starting line up, that’s one thing but Nash shouldn’t be taking minutes from Blake in the Spurs series.
