Lakers’ Byron Scott praises Jeremy Lin for playing through back spasms in loss to Jazz

Over and over again, Jeremy Lin kept going through his pre-game routine that entailed shooting endless free throws and jump shots. Once the Lakers took the court, Lin eventually entered the game and tried to fulfill the usual job description by attacking the basket, setting up others and making defensive stops.

If not for Lin’s two-point effort on 1-of-8 shooting in the Lakers’ 80-73 loss to the Utah Jazz on Thursday at Staples Center, it appeared the Lakers’ guard looked completely normal.

Except he wasn’t at all. Lin suffered back spasms that he said stemmed from what he called an undisclosed “bad hit” in Wednesday’s practice. Lin reported that collision caused his back alignment to move “probably six to eight inches to the side.” That left Lin and the Lakers’ training staff furiously spending Wednesday’s practice, Thursday’s morning shootaround and Thursday’s pre-game warmups trying to fix his back.

Once it was all done, Lakers trainer Gary Vitti was overheard praising Lin for fighting through his injury. Lin praised the Lakers’ training staff in return. Lin reiterated that afterwards when he said the Lakers’ training staff “did an unbelievable job.”

“You have to give him credit,” Lakers coach Byron Scott said. “I didn’t think he was going to play at all. He wanted to give it a go.”

This hardly marked a breakout game. In fact, Lin’s 1-of-8 clip and two turnovers contributed to the Lakers (17-50) setting a season-low in point scored that cemented both a four-game losing streak and the team’s 50th loss for the second consecutive season for the first time in franchise history.

Yet, Lin maintained his aggressiveness by collecting four assists, three steals and hustling on basically every play.

“You keep attacking. It’s just a mindset,” Lin said. “When I’m on the floor, I want to stay aggressive. I thought tonight I was pretty aggressive. I didn’t feel like my normal self in terms of the explosiveness and finishing. But I still think I should’ve hit a lot of the shots I got.”

But Lin could only do so much as he exposed his back to more pain and contact. It also did not help he has nursed pain in his right wrist for the past few weeks.

All of which led both Scott and Lin to anticipate the Lakers’ guard sitting out of Friday’s practice. But with his plan to rest and receive treatment now through tomorrow, Lin sounded confident he would “return back to normal again” in time for Saturday’s practice and Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Staples Center.

“I’ll be good next game,” Lin said.

That would hardly describe how Lin felt during the current game. Afterwards Lin conceded his back “doesn’t feel great.”

But as he labored in the training room and on the court, Lin refused to let that pain affect his mindset.

“I couldn’t shoot it or finish the way I wanted to,” Lin said. “But I’m thankful for the training staff for keeping me on the floor.”

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