For the past few weeks, Steve Nash’s days have begun with pain before they can move on to basketball.

Nash, 36, has battled a lower abdominal strain since late January, when it brought on a flare-up of the point guard’s chronic back pain due to a slipped vertebra.

Nash is hurting, but there is no time for it. Goran Dragic, the usual backup point guard, likely will sit out again Saturday against Indiana because of the right-ankle sprain he suffered Wednesday. Leandro Barbosa, another option, will practice Monday for the first time since his Jan. 26 wrist surgery. Dragic and Barbosa likely will play Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Mentally, physically fatigued, to play physically at a deficit for so long,” Nash said after Thursday’s loss. “I just can’t do the things I want to do and it’s painful out there but I’ve got to find a way to suck it up, especially with Goran out. It’s not a lot of fun to play like this but nobody feels sorry for you in the Western Conference.”

“It’s not as much fun to play the game that way,” Nash said of his condition. “I just have no thrust. Every movement, my back is trying to stop me from going somewhere but I got to just keep working and fighting to see if I can improve. Our training staff does a great job to get me out there at all.”

After Saturday’s game, the Suns do not play until Friday and coach Alvin Gentry has said Nash won’t participate in the three scheduled practices.

“Having this break hopefully can get him closer to 100 percent,” Suns head athletic trainer Aaron Nelson said. “Once you’re in season, it’s all about maintenance. He hasn’t got the opportunity to rest at all.”