Lakers guard Steve Blake made a small sliver of progress on Wednesday by participating in three-on-three drills for the first since suffering a lower abdominal injury that’s sidelined him for just over two months.
Blake reported “some pain” and maintains there’s “no timetable” on his recovery. He plans to seek a second opinion from Dr. Bill Brown in Las Vegas less than a week after receiving a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection from Dr. Peter Yoon to treat his groin.
Blake’s pain in his lower abdomen went away shortly after surgery on Dec. 5, but pain in his groin area emerged shortly before the procedure.
“The way my stomach was hurting so bad, I didn’t really feel [the groin pain],” Blake said. “Once this healed, it made the other thing magnified. It’s something I have to deal with right now and hope it doesn’t get worse.”
It’s the latest case of an injury that has sidelined him since Nov. 11. Blake has played in seven games, averaging 5.1 points on 35.3 percent shooting and 3.4 assists in 26 minutes as the team’s backup point guard. Although he hasn’t played for him, Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni considers Blake an ideal fit for his system because of his playmaking instincts.
Blake considered his three-on-three drills to be a “breakthrough,” but it also reinforced how long the injury has kept him sidelined.
“I feel a little more confident in myself. I haven’t played like that in a long time,” Blake said. “It’s frustrating. You think you’re going to heal and be totally okay. You take care of one thing and then it just magnifies another injury I was having.”
Blake sensed the pain level in his groin area growing two weeks ago, which marked one month after his surgery.
“Because I stopped playing and moving, I only felt my abdomen,” Blake said. “If I was still running around, I probably would’ve known my groin was really hurting.”
But that didn’t happen.
Blake had been limited to stationary shooting drills because any slight movement could make his injury worse. The PRP injection involves blood being taken from the patient and isolating the components, but Blake said not enough time has passed for him to feel the effects yet.
After his doctor visit on Thursday, Blake hopes to have more clarity on how much pain he can tolerate when he’s on the court.
“Supposedly it won’t get worse, but I’m going to find that out,” Blake said. “I have a high tolerance for pain. I’ll see if I can do it. Am I going to benefit the team not playing 100 percent? If the answer is yes, I’ll do what I can to play through it. If not, I’ll sit down.”
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