The Los Angeles Lakers fell in their second home game last night, 91-85 to the San Antonio Spurs and did so without Steve Nash for the entire fourth quarter.
Nash was aggressive to start off the game, but struggled with his shot as he finished the night 1-8 with five points and five assists. However, as was the case on Opening Night, the bench saw the floor in the fourth quarter and Nash was relegated to just 23 minutes of action. While Mike D’Antoni admitted he was afraid to go back to Nash because he might’ve been “stiff”, the Lakers failed to execute down the stretch.
Talking to Kevin Ding of BleacherReport, Nash admitted that Jordan Farmar could see those minutes down the stretch more often:
Hopefully I can play at a better rate at some point in the near future, Nash said. Then he added the following without any reporter solicitation: But also you’re going to see Jordan really come alive and play well more consistently and give us a real player who can help the team.
While Farmar wasn’t on the floor to end the game last night, he’s clearly been the more effective point guard as he’s averaging 12 points and five assists off the bench. In three games with the Lakers ,Farmar looks like a completely point guard as he exudes confidence and continues to make plays while in the game.
Nash isn’t playing back-t0-back as a way to stay fresh and thus Farmar will have to pick up the slack, but it’s the lack of confidence from Nash that’s alarming. The 39-year-old point guard still has another year on his contract, but his impact hasn’t been felt on the floor through his first two games.
It’s disappointing to see Nash play like this, but as we’ve seen through three games, D’Antoni doesn’t mind going to Farmar or Steve Blake down the stretch.
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