Steve Blake said he had a breakthrough Wednesday in his recovery from injury, practicing three-on-three for the first time since suffering an abdominal tear in early November.
"It gave me a little confidence to say, 'Maybe I can do it,' " said Blake after practice. "But then after you put yourself through something the first day, we'll see how I wake up tomorrow. We'll see if I can walk."
The Lakers guard has played in just seven games this season, averaging 5.1 points in 26 minutes a game. Blake had abdominal surgery on Dec. 5. His recovery has been delayed because of a sore groin.
"The initial injury was a small tear in my abdominal muscle," Blake said. "We fixed the one area. We didn't realize I was in that much pain for the other problem.... It's unfortunate."
It's possible for Blake to return before his groin is completely healed.
"Some people can play through it. Some people can't. It depends on the severity of it. Supposedly it won't get worse," he said. "I have pretty high tolerance for pain. I just have to see if I can do it."
Blake had a PRP procedure recently to try and kick-start the healing, but there's no timeline yet for his return.
He said Wednesday he'd like to try to return as soon as possible, but wants to make sure he's not limited by the groin injury.
"Am I going to benefit the team playing not 100%?" Blake asked. "If the answer is yes, I'll do what I can to play through it. If not, I'll sit down."
-Eric Pincus
