Steve Nash Targets Saturday Return

Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Soon the excuses will be none for Mike D’Antoni. Pau Gasol came back just in the nick of time to help save the Lakers from yet another embarrassing defeat during last night’s comeback against the Charlotte Bobcats. And if all goes well the rest of this week Coach “No D” Antoni will have his savior back in uniform.

Steve Nash was expected to be back on the court Christmas Day for the Lakers’ holiday battle with the Knicks. However Nash is now targeting this Saturday’s swing through Oakland as his possible return date.

Out of action for most all of this season, Nash played two very lackluster games as a Laker before a leg fracture shut down his debut season in Los Angeles. This week Nash actually got back on the court for practice. Come Friday we should know if he’ll be good to go for the game against the Warriors this weekend.

Coach No D has made it known that he’s dying to get Nash back. And why not? With the way D’Antoni’s career has gone since he no longer coached Nash there is little doubt that much of his success is tied to the manner in which Nash runs his system. This season has made that abundantly obvious as the Lakers have slumped their way to out of playoff contention under D’ Antoni.