Steve Nash is old. He’s injured. And his Los Angeles Lakers are trailing the San Antonio Spurs 1-0 in the first round of the NBA playoffs. But he’s still happy.
Despite being forced to navigate a labyrinth of adversity, Nash said that he was “thrilled” to be fighting alongside his teammates (via Sam Amick of USA Today):
“It’s frustrating, because we’ve been through so much that you want a chance to overcome it now,” said Nash, who missed nine of 15 shots in Game 1 and admitted afterward that he wasn’t himself just yet. “I love to play, and I love this team. I want to fight for these guys and be part of this team having some happy times. We’ve had a lot of down days, and we stuck with it.
“We’ve all fought and fought and fought and not got a lot of joy out of it. That’s why I’m still thrilled to get a chance to play in this series, thrilled to try to fight for my teammates and try to make something good happen out of all of this.”
It’s really difficult to envision the state of the Lakers’ locker room. A $100 million roster wasn’t supposed to toil with a lottery berth, but Los Angeles did. To say these Lakers were a disappointment just wouldn’t do their campaign justice.
But while we’re quick to criticize the team and head coach Mike D’Antoni, there’s no refuting that the Lakers have been through hell and back. Every single one of their Big Four has been injured at some point or another this season. Dwight Howard battled back and shoulder issues all year long, Pau Gasol fell victim to numerous bouts of plantar fasciitis, Kobe Bryant conceivably played hurt all season before rupturing his Achilles and Nash was plagued by shin, hip and hamstring injuries. It wasn’t pretty.
And it still isn’t. Kobe is nowhere to be found and Nash is clearly hurting. Both Howard and Gasol look better, but let’s not forget that they alone won’t be enough. The Lakers have little to no support coming off the bench, and key players like Antawn Jamison, Metta World Peace and Jodie Meeks are banged up as well.
On some levels, Los Angeles’ experiment just didn’t work this season. Dwight and Pau didn’t figure out how to coexist until recently, Bryant was forced to teeter between a scorer and a distributor, and Nash was asked to play off the ball more. Yet, to call this convocation a complete failure isn’t entirely fair. Mostly because the Lakers needed more time together to understand their roles, but partly because we saw traces of success using Nash off the ball and Kobe as the point man.
I understand that when investing this much money in a roster, it’s supposed to yield results. But how were the Lakers supposed to produce or win consistently while battling injuries all season? The sacrifice a team usually makes when constructing a star-studded powerhouse is depth. So, when one or more of your stars go down, the team is in trouble.
That’s what happened to these Lakers all season. That’s what is happening to them now. Still, they fight. Nash included.
Given how poorly things have played out for them, maintaining a sense of resiliency is imperative. It’s the only way they can persevere through their season-long trials and tribulations and have a legitimate shot of unseating the Spurs.
Clearly, Nash is prepared to remain unrelenting, and you’d have to imagine the rest of the team is ready to do the same. Which means there’s only one question left to ask: Will the Lakers’ bodies catch up with their hearts, or will their unbridled passion be thwarted by a lack of health?
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
