LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Steve Nash hoped for one more chance to show off his playmaking skills after fighting injuries and time for two miserable years with the Los Angeles Lakers.Instead, Nash couldnt even make it to opening night in the 19th season of his remarkable career.Nash will miss the entire season because of a back injury, the Lakers announced Thursday, putting the two-time NBA MVP point guards career in doubt.The Lakers and the 40-year-old Nash announced their joint decision less than a week before the start of the regular season. He played in only 15 games last season with nerve root irritation, but hoped for a comeback season after several months of rehabilitation.The Canadian star played in just three preseason games, feeling more back pain in the second outing. He then strained his back while carrying travel bags several days ago.Being on the court this season has been my top priority, and it is disappointing to not be able to do that right now, Nash said. I work very hard to stay healthy, and unfortunately my recent setback makes performing at full capacity difficult. I will continue to support my team during this period of rest, and will focus on my long-term health.Nash will focus on rest and rehabilitation, according to the teams news release. He is in the final season of his three-year contract with the Lakers, but the clubs announcement made no mention of possible retirement.The native of Victoria has played in only 65 games since the Lakers traded four draft picks for him in 2012 in a spectacularly failed attempt to assemble a title contender built around Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Nash.Bryant, who missed all but six games last season with two major injuries, has played in the same backcourt with Nash for just 48 games.As disappointed as we are for ourselves and our fans, were even more disappointed for Steve, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said. We know how hard hes worked the last two years to try to get his body right for the rigours of the NBA, and how badly he wants to play, but unfortunately he simply hasnt been able to get there up to this point in time. Steve has been a consummate professional, and we greatly appreciate his efforts.Nash, the NBAs oldest active player, is due more than $9 million this season. His salary counts toward the Lakers cap.If Nashs career ends with his latest injury, it likely wont dull the impact of the greatest player in Canadian history and one of the most complete offensive guards of his generation.He is third on the NBAs career assists list, trailing only John Stockton and Jason Kidd. Nash also is the most accurate free-throw shooter in NBA history, barely edging Mark Prices career mark at 90.4 per cent.During training camp, Nash said he realized the upcoming season likely would be his last. Yet he refused to call it a farewell tour, holding out hope of playing beyond this season if his back held up under the pounding of a full NBA schedule.Sorry to hear the news my man, injured Lakers teammate Nick Young tweeted at Nash.The British Columbia product starred at Santa Clara before starting his NBA career with the Phoenix Suns, who traded him to Dallas in 1998. He established himself as an elite point guard while playing alongside Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley with the Mavericks, but returned to Phoenix in 2004 for a lucrative free-agent deal.Nash won two unlikely MVP awards in 2005 and 2006 as the catalyst for one of the most prolific offences in NBA history under coach Mike DAntoni. His playmaking and scoring abilities earned him worldwide recognition and eight All-Star game selections, including his final season with Phoenix in 2011-12.Nash agreed to join the Lakers for the chance to play for a title living relatively near to his ex-wife and three children. Despite several health struggles late in his career with the Suns, Los Angeles gave him a three-year deal and mortgaged its future by shipping out draft choices.But Nashs tenure in Hollywood has been mostly miserable from his second game, when he broke a bone in his left leg and missed the next 24 games.He also struggled with injuries to his hamstrings and back before last season, when he played in just nine of the Lakers final 74 games due to recurrent pain in his back and legs.The Lakers had hoped Nash would be their starting point guard this season, but the club also acquired Jeremy Lin and signed veteran free-agent Ronnie Price. Los Angeles, which missed the playoffs last season for just the third time in 38 years, has been projected for a rough season even with a healthy Nash. Doug Harvey Jersey .com) - DAngelo Harrison posted 21 points to guide No. Pierre Turgeon Jersey . Every once in awhile, it seems like life lets dreams become real - and that is a gift. http://www.canadienssale.com/authentic-maurice-richard-canadiens-jersey/ .com) - Bradley Beal deposited a season-high 33 points and John Wall posted another double-double as the Washington Wizards went on the road and beat the Houston Rockets, 104-103. Saku Koivu Jersey .B. -- Canadas Rachel Homan had ideal preparation for the playoffs at the Ford World Curling Championships with a pair of hard-fought wins over tenacious opponents Thursday. Guy Lapointe Jersey . Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points, Shawn Marion had 22 and the Mavericks beat undermanned Philadelphia 124-112 Friday night, handing the 76ers their 10th straight loss.TORONTO - Coming off his teams most impressive early-season outing and preparing for the lowly 76ers, Raptors reserve Lou Williams stressed the importance of approaching both games the same way. He was pretty convincing and nearly got through the cliche unscathed before succumbing to a last-second Freudian slip. That was one of the things that we spoke about in our meeting this morning, Williams said ahead of Sundays game. That even though theyre 0-6 theyve been in every game. Theyve played some tough teams very closely and we expect another effort from them [tonight]. So were going to come in and take them serious, like an NBA team. Looks can be deceiving but, amazingly, the Philadelphia 76ers are in fact an NBA team. Per Williamss pre-game assertion and to the Raptors credit, they showed their winless visitors no mercy. I thought we were very professional and took a very professional approach, Dwane Casey said following his teams rout of the 76ers in a 120-88 victory. Those guys are a young team and I knew they were going to come out and play hard, and they did that in the first few minutes of the game. Our guys played the way we should play. Facing a cast of characters that even the staunchest hoops head would have difficulty picking out of a line-up, Toronto took the lead less than two minutes into Sundays contest and never relinquished. DeMar DeRozan was the first to identity and exploit a glaring mismatch, welcoming JaKarr Sampson - an un-drafted rookie - to the league, attacking him to the tune of seven points in three minutes. By the end of the opening quarter, they had scored 33 points, two days after dropping 28 on the Wizards, shooting 69 per cent - a percentage that didnt drop below 60 until early in the third frame. Lowrys third-quarter put-back stretched the lead over 20 for the first time and DeRozans nifty 360 lay-up, on the subsequent possession, padded it to 23. That advantage would become 41 in the fourth. Weve been in a lot of games where weve had big leads and lost them, said DeRozan, who scored a game-high 24 points on just 12 shots in 25 minutes of action. Weve been stressing being able to put our foot on peoples necks when we gain the lead and not give them any hope. We didnt let up at any point. We didnt give them no hope and thats how we have to play when we gain leads. Despite Philadelphias clumsy start and all the talk of taking them seriously, this had the makings of a let-down game for the Raptors, feeling good about themselves after acing their biggest early-season test on Friday. Even Casey feared it before the game. For a player to look across and not see a Hall-of-Famer or whatever, its kind of hard for them to see and understand that guys probably trying to audition for 29 other teams and trying to prove himself against you, said the Raptors coach. Thats probably a challenge. But, with a national audience watching on NBA TV, they looked the part of a team that now stands alone atop the Eastern Conference standings (for the first time - after seven games - in franchise history). Its great for the fans, Casey said of his teams standing in the East. Its great for the players to see that, but its not the most important thing right now. Our most important thing is developing a consistent personality. Sundays convincing win was another step in that process. On the other end of the spectrum, the 76ers - dead last in the East - are playing out this season in the hopes of, one day, being able to say the same. With an average age just over 23-years-old, Philadelphia is the youngest team in the league. Only three of their active players have more than 84 games of NBA experience under their belt.dddddddddddd In contrast, the Raptors - who are not exactly a veteran club - dressed 13 players on Sunday, each of them having appeared in at least 148 contests. Brett Brown, a former assistant and Gregg Popovich disciple in San Antonio, may be the calmest 0-7 coach in history (though he did pick up one of the quickest technical fouls in recent memory, two minutes into the game). Why panic? Everythings going according to plan. Philadelphia owns the rights to four players selected in the top 12 of the last two drafts. None of them suited up in Toronto - Nerlens Noel (sixth pick in 2013, out - ankle injury), Michael Carter-Williams (11th in 2013 and last seasons Rookie of the Year, out - shoulder injury), Joel Embiid (third in 2014, likely out for the season - foot injury), Dario Saric (12th in 2014, playing in Turkish League). Theyre biding their time. Its a challenge that I really enjoy, said a surprisingly chipper Brown before his teams latest loss. The job that I have now is so different than where I came from because you have a bunch of 20-year-olds that have spent a year, maybe two years in college. I love coaching them, they play hard and I respect their work ethic. I respect their day-to-day energy and I try to convince them that it will pay off, it will add up, you are doing this for a reason. I dont want them to get beaten down by the win and loss column. Not too long ago, Casey and the Raptors were in a similar situation. When Casey took over ahead of the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign, he inherited an inexperienced group, one that former general manager Bryan Colangelo has since admitted was designed to be bad. Only DeRozan and Johnson remain from that team. I was in the same position as a lot of them guys that are over there now, DeRozan said. I know what it takes to really start from scratch, how tough it really is. As long as you stay with it, keep working, slowly but surely itll turn around. Youve got to respect it because you have to start from somewhere. The 76ers may not have a single player from Sundays line-up around when theyre long-term plan finally starts to take shape. Casey, like Brown, used to speak of the process, preaching patience both in and outside of the locker room. He would point to the Spurs and the Pacers, using them as benchmarks. This is what were building towards, he would say. Now, the Raptors are the big brother. Brown can only hope to emulate their path and, like Casey, still be around when it begins to pay off. Personally, I have a lot of respect for the way theyve grown the program, Brown said of the Raptors. They showed Coach Casey some respect with a well-deserved contract extension and now theyve built something. Coming off last year, they feel good about themselves. You can actually see the growth of the program. So, on many levels, you look at that, given what were trying to do, there are parts of what I just said that you hope to duplicate. I mean its tough to establish a culture, Casey said, sympathizing with the position Brown finds himself in. To go from a winning culture to rebuilding is very difficult because your mindset is, each and every night out, you have an opportunity to win, whereas, when you are rebuilding with a young team, you are motivating them to go hard each and every night, to play physical, to play tough and it might not result in a W...and then to be resilent to come back from that the next night. Thats hard to do with a young team, to keep those spirits up and have them to be able to see the big picture. 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