Steve Blake returns for Los Angeles Lakers practice two weeks after suffering foot injury – NBA News
Steve Blake surprised the Los Angeles Lakers coaching staff when he was cleared to participate in Thursday’s practice, two weeks after suffering a foot injury. Blake suffered a deep puncture wound in his left foot 10 days ago, and was initially expected
to miss three weeks. However, the 10 year veteran was cleared by the team’s medical staff to participate in Thursday’s practice session, meaning he only missed two days of practice.
“The kid's just tough as nails. I don't know if he'll ever get out of shape. He only knows one way to play, which is hard, and he's worked extremely hard on his game this summer. Watching him, you couldn't tell that this was his first practice. He was Steve
Blake,” said Lakers Head Coach Mike Brown.
Blake is an important part of the Lakers team for next season, as he will perform back up duties to point guard Steve Nash and will be heavily relied upon to hold down the fort as the 38 year old Nash rests during the game. The Lakers parted ways with their
point guard from last season, Ramon Sessions, bringing in Steve Nash afterwards to fill the starting spot. Besides Blake, the Lakers also have Chris Duhon to perform back-up guard duties, whom they acquired from the Orlando Magic in the Dwight Howard trade.
Blake and Duhon are going to compete against each other in training camp to land the coveted role of backing up Nash.
“We just got to make sure we handle the process right, but obviously with Steve playing last year and having a feel for what we want accomplished, he might have a leg up on everybody," said Brown.
Nash invited Blake and Duhon to Phoenix to train with him before the start of training camp, where the three point guards got the opportunity to get to know each other and understand their role and position in the new Princeton style offence that the Lakers
are going to be playing next season.
“It was good. It gave us a chance to hang out, get to know each other, work out a little bit, learn from each other, and it was just a good experience overall,” said Duhon about the trip to Phoenix.
Blake averaged 5.2 points and 3.3 assists in 23.3 minutes per game last season, as he served as a backup to Derek Fisher and later, Ramon Sessions. Duhon, on the other hand, averaged 3.8 points and 2.4 assists in 19.5 minutes of playing time for the Orlando
Magic last season
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