Clippers’ Doc Rivers on Steve Nash: ‘He just made the game different’

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers called Steve Nash “one of the best” a day after the Lakers announced that the 40-year-old point guard will miss the season because of a back injury.

“Back-to-back MVP at his size is just amazing,” Rivers said Friday before the Clippers’ exhibition game against the Portland Trail Blazers. “I think he did a lot of things for the game. I think the great ones, they make the game different. I think Nash did that with his movement, being an aggressive scorer, but also a facilitator, finishing under the rim.”

Nash won the NBA most-valuable-player award in 2005 and ’06 with the Phoenix Suns. He is third on the league’s career assists list, trailing only John Stockton and Jason Kidd, and is the most accurate free-throw shooter in NBA history at 90.4%.

Nash has struggled with injuries since the Lakers traded four draft picks for him in 2012. He played in only 65 games for them.

“He’s 40 years old, what the hell does he expect?” Rivers said with a laugh. “I look at it that way too. He’s had a great career, obviously a first-ballot Hall of Fame career, so that’s how we should look at it.”