Marshall was signed out of the D-League in late December after the Lakers found themselves in a hole. The entire point guard platoon of Steve Nash, Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar had been shelved due to injury and was soon followed by Kobe Bryant and Xavier Henry.
And then came the crazy month of January, as the 22-year-old point guard with an old-fashioned set shot averaged 11.9 points and 11.5 assists through 15 games. He also connected at the unlikely rate of .441 from behind the arc. The last Laker to put up those kinds of assists was Magic Johnson during the Showtime era.
Marshall may never again experience those kind of stats in the NBA. And then again, he might.
It looked as if the brief reign of an improbable hero was over when Nash, Blake and Farmar all got better at the same time. Per Dave McMenamin from ESPN Los Angeles, Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni admitted that things would soon be different for the young guard:
Whether he starts or whether he doesn't, he'll have to [get used to the fact that] it won't be the same. He's not going to get 35 minutes no matter what he does. So, that's how the NBA is and he'll have to keep carving his niche out. He's played well, so he's got to continue that.
What happened next was thoroughly predictable during this snake-bitten season.
In short order, Nash’s nerve root irritation began surfacing again, Farmar reaggravated his hamstring and Blake, while he hasn’t missed any games since returning, has been banged up with a ruptured eardrum and elbow discomfort.
As for Marshall, he just kept motoring along, averaging 9.7 points and 9.2 assists in reduced minutes during the month of February, leading up to the All-Star break.
There was genu...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
