DALLAS — Part of the story of the Lakers’ season has been Dwight Howard dealing with lingering issues after back surgery and the Lakers therefore losing.

Steve Nash’s back spasms haven’t stopped him from hitting big shots down the stretch in the Lakers’ past two victories over Portland and Dallas, both of whom are trying to make the Western Conference playoffs, just like the Lakers.

Nash has dealt with a congenital back condition called spondylolisthesis throughout his career, but he said Sunday the spasms recently are different.

“I just had a vertabra kind of lock up on me, and the muscles therefore overcompensated — so I had little spasms back there,” Nash said. “So I just don’t have much freedom. But if I can get through one more (game vs. Denver on Monday), we’ve got a softer week. So hopefully I can get through it.”

Nash said if he could get a few days off he believes the spasms would “go away easily,” but he is determined to keep playing. Unlike his poor shooting most of the game against Portland on Friday, Nash shot 7 for 12 in Dallas — making all but one of his 3-point attempts — in scoring his most as a Laker, 20 points.

But Nash said he wasn’t confident in how he felt, basically willing in some of the shots against the Mavericks, although the back did improve some late in the game.

“At this stage, you’ve just got to try to not think about it and play and help your team,” Nash said.

After the game in Denver, the Lakers have just one game — at home vs. Minnesota on Thursday — over a stretch of five days.