Because of persisting issue with his back, Lakers guard Steve Nash sat out of the second half of the Lakers’ game Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Staples Center.

Nash plans to see back specialist Dr. Robert Watkins, who had also performed surgery on former Lakers center Dwight Howard. Nash was pretty limited in the first half, finishing with only two points on zero of three shooting and three assists in 13 minutes.

Nash has encountered plenty of health issues in his 18th season, ranging from a monitoring a sore left ankle and stiff neck toward the tail end of training camp. Nash, 39, is also only a season removed when he missed a combined 32 games because of a fractured left leg and back and hamstring issues.

In a wide-ranging interview with this newspaper during training camp, , Nash focused this offseason on improving what he called his “postural stability” and “movement patterns.” It’s possible that any awkward movement may have put additional pressure on his sensitive spine.

Nash has stayed limited in so far both with his performances and playing time. He has only averaged 7.6 points on 27.9 percent shooting and 5.2 assists in 24.2 minutes. Nash also has sat out two games in the tail end of two back-to-back trips in the Lakers’ long-term project to keep him healthy.

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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at mark.medina@dailynews.com