Steve Nash: Top 10 Moments With The Phoenix Suns

Steve Nash is a sure-fire Hall of Famer and soon-to-be member of the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor. We’ll see him in Springfield in five years and his place among the all-time great point guards in NBA history is unquestionable.

More from Suns News

• Ranking the Phoenix Suns’ 5 holiday games in 2023-24
• Zion Williamson gets compared to Phoenix Suns legend
• Suns player preview: Bol Bol can be the perfect role player
• Former Suns’ guard shows he is officially done with Phoenix
• NBA insider guarantees Suns’ rival won’t make blockbuster trade

But now that Nash is officially retiring, we’re left to ponder where his career fits in among the list of all-time greats who never won an NBA championship. Winning a title is not the sole determinant of one’s career, but no one in Phoenix would argue against the fact that the impact Nash’s time with the Suns really should’ve been validated with some championship hardware.

Still, a superb player and person like Steve Nash doesn’t need to have anything in his career “validated.” A title is the one thing missing from an otherwise impeccable career, but in his prime, there was no question about his value to the Suns, Canada and the NBA in general.

In that spirit, it’s time to take a look back on the best times of Nash’s career — specifically, his prime in the Valley of the Suns. Sit back, grab a box of tissues if you must, and enjoy the top 10 moments of Steve Nash’s career with the Phoenix Suns.

Next: No. 10

10. Nash Gets Revenge Against The Mavs

In the summer of 2004, Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks had their chance to keep a future two-time MVP. Cuban wanted to rebuild around Dirk Nowitzki and already had almost $50 million committed to Antoine Walker, Michael Finley and Antawn Jamison that season, so the Mavs wound up lowballing Nash with a four-year, $36 million offer.

It’s a good thing they did, because the Suns swooped in with a six-year, $63 million contract. When Cuban didn’t match as Nash hoped he would, a decision that would alter the course of NBA offenses forever had been made and Nash joined Phoenix.

He wouldn’t have to wait very long to exact his revenge on Cuban and the Mavs either, as the Suns met up with Dallas in the 2005 Western Conference semifinals. Nash had already led the Suns to an NBA-best 62-20 record that season en route to his first of two MVP Awards, but Nash saved his best for that Mavericks series.

In six games, Nash tortured Dallas to the tune of 30.3 points, 12.0 assists and 6.5 rebounds per game while posting insane shooting splits of .550/.419/.962. He dropped 48 points in a Game 4 loss, had a 34-13-12 triple-double in Game 5 with the series tied at 2-2 and finished Dallas off in Game 6 with 39 points, 12 assists and nine boards.

People often praised Nash for his selflessness and sometimes even critiqued him for not being assertive enough, but in that series, Nash made sure to let the world know what he was capable of.

Cuban and the Mavs wound up making the NBA Finals the following season (beating the Suns in Western Conference Finals) and won a championship in 2011, so things worked out for them in the end. But at the time, Nash made Cuban look like a fool for passing him up, and the completely hypothetical argument could be made it was still a massive mistake letting him walk.

Next: No. 9

9. Revolutionizing NBA Offenses

This isn’t one moment, per se. But we couldn’t talk about Steve Nash’s exemplary career without somehow mentioning how he revolutionized NBA offenses during his time in Phoenix.

From 2001-02 to 2009-10, Nash was the floor general for the NBA’s leading team in offensive efficiency. Three of those seasons came with the Mavs, but for six straight seasons in Phoenix, Nash was the conductor of a Suns offense that changed NBA basketball forever.

The “Seven Seconds Or Less” Suns are sometimes viewed as a gimmick that rightfully never won a championship due to their defensive deficiencies. It’s easy to misconstrue or distort the truth years later, especially after watching Mike D’Antoni fail in New York and Los Angeles, but those Suns were undoubtedly one of the greatest NBA dynasties to never actually ascend to the throne.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, since Nash joined the Suns in 2004-05, the NBA’s top five offensive efficiencies belong to a Phoenix team. The only season that doesn’t qualify for the top six, 2005-06, was one in which Amar’e Stoudemrie only played three games due to injury.

In 2009-10, flanked by players past their prime like Jason Richardson and Grant Hill, the Suns posted the best offensive rating of the last 30 years by scoring an absurd 112.7 points per 100 possessions.

People are quick to criticize those Suns teams as poor defensive teams. While it’s true they often finished in the bottom five in opponent points per game, that’s an unfair metric to use since the Suns played at such a rapid pace, pushing the tempo and boosting the number of possessions each team had.

By looking at defensive rating, Nash’s Suns were often average to poor, but they weren’t the complete matadors everyone made them out to be. And even if they were, isn’t it damned impressive those Suns teams had such potent offenses at their peak that they made the Western Conference Finals three times in six seasons despite being defensively flawed?

Without Nash’s Suns, the offensive brilliance we’ve seen over the last few years from teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors would not have been possible.

Next: No. 8

8. Sweeping Another Rival In 2010

In the 2010 NBA Playoffs, the reaction most Suns fans had when they realized Phoenix would face the San Antonio Spurs in the semifinals was something along the lines of, “Oh no,” “Dammit,” or “How the hell is Tim Duncan still playing anyway?”

The Spurs had grown into a team as hated by Suns fans as the Los Angeles Lakers at that point, given the fact that San Antonio had eliminated the Suns in three of Nash’s first five seasons in Phoenix. They were the Nash’s kryptonite, but what made it worse was the Spurs ascended to the title throne in two of the three years they beat Phoenix.

Everyone — and I mean EVERYONE — associated with the Suns hated the San Antonio Spurs.

Nash and Suns fans everywhere couldn’t help but think, “That should have been us” every time they had to watch San Antonio hoist another championship banner. There was the 2005 Western Conference Finals, when the Suns fell in five games despite posting the league’s best record that season. San Antonio wound up winning the title that year.

In 2007, the Suns lost to the Spurs in six games in the Western Conference semifinals due to the infamous Robert Horry hip check that resulted in bogus one-game suspensions for Amar’e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for the pivotal Game 5. The Spurs took control of the series in Game 5, won the series in six and went on to win the title.

In 2008, the Spurs defeated the Suns in the first round and Phoenix missed the playoffs in 2009. So when they returned to the postseason in 2010 to face the seventh seeded Spurs in the second round, it felt like a bad omen. That’s what made that second round sweep — and one of the best games of Nash’s career — so darn sweet.

Nash put up some of the best numbers of his 2010 postseason in that series, averaging 22.0 points, 7.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds on 55.7 percent shooting and 45.5 percent shooting from three-point range. He tortured Tim Duncan in the pick and roll and the Suns won by an average margin of 9.3 points.

The Suns didn’t win the title, but boy was it gratifying to watch Nash exorcise those Spurs demons in such convincing fashion — especially in the closing Game 4, where Nash scored 10 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter with six stitches and his right eye gradually swelling shut.

Next: No. 7

7. Redefining The 50-40-90 Club

In the history of NBA basketball, there are a grand total of 11 seasons in which a player shot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point territory and 90 percent from the free throw line. Of those 11, only Steve Nash and Larry Bird have more than one.

But Nash rules over even Larry Bird in this category with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR of those 11 50-40-90 seasons. And what’s scary is he was 0.1 percent away from making it five.

Starting with the 2005-06 season, Nash made the 50-40-90 club in four of five seasons. In fact, starting with his first season in Phoenix, he was mere percentage points away from making it eight straight seasons:

• 2004-05:  50.2 FG%, 43.1 3P%, 88.7 FT%
• 2005-06:  51.2 FG%, 43.9 3P%, 91.2 FT%
• 2006-07:  53.2 FG%, 45.5 3P%, 89.9 FT%
• 2007-08:  50.4 FG%, 47.0 3P%, 90.6 FT%
• 2008-09:  50.3 FG%, 43.9 3P%, 93.3 FT%
• 2009-10:  50.7 FG%, 42.6 3P%, 93.8 FT%
• 2010-11:  49.2 FG%, 39.5 3P%, 91.2 FT%
• 2011-12:  53.2 FG%, 39.0 3P%, 89.4 FT%

In case a lot of numbers make your eyes water, here’s a quick synopsis. In 2004-05, Nash fell 1.3 percent short on his free throws of one 50-40-90 season. In 2006-07, he fell 0.1 percent short on his free throws, which equated to exactly one missed free throw shy of joining the 50-40-90 club. In 2010-11, he was 0.8 percent (FG%) and 0.5 percent (3P%) short and in 2011-12, he was 1.0 percent (3P%) and 0.6 percent (FT%) short.

Taking a look at Nash’s career stats, this future Hall of Famer shot 49.0 percent from the field, 42.8 percent from three-point range and 90.4 percent from the foul line. He was one percent shy in his field goal percentage of being the first lifetime 50-40-90 club member in NBA history! Just another reason to pretend Nash’s down years with the Los Angeles Lakers never happened.

This isn’t an individual moment, but Nash’s excellent efficiency is something we’ve never seen in the NBA before and needed a spot on this list. It’s no wonder that Nash is retiring as the league’s all-time leader in free throw percentage.

Next: No. 6

6. Three Conference Finals Appearances

As far as championships are concerned, Nash never climbed to the peak of the NBA mountain. But that’s not to say he never had any notable playoff success either, especially when you remember he made it to four Western Conference Finals (three with the Suns) in his career.

Karl Malone and Steve Nash may be the only players in NBA history to ever win multiple MVPs without ever winning a title, but it wasn’t for lack of trying on Nash’s part. If anything, it might be for a lack of luck.

In his first season with the Suns, Nash and company disappointingly bowed out in the Western Conference Finals in five games against the Spurs, but they were missing Joe Johnson for the first two games of the series. Johnson had to have surgery to repair a left orbital bone fracture in his face, an injury he sustained against the Mavs in Nash’s revenge series.

The second-seeded Spurs won the first two games of the series without Johnson, stealing home court advantage and wrapping up the series in five. The next season, the Suns lost in six games to the Mavericks, but they were missing Amar’e Stoudemire and an important defender and three-point sniper in Raja Bell for two games of the series.

In the 2007 NBA Playoffs, the Suns lost in the semis to the eventual champs, this time by virtue of the despicable Robert Horry hip check and subsequent controversial suspensions we already covered.

In 2010, Nash and quite possibly his deepest team faced the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals and were one missed Jason Richardson box-out from taking a 3-2 series series lead with Game 6 in Phoenix. Unfortunately, Ron Artest grabbed a Kobe Bryant air ball, laid it in at the buzzer and the Lakers went on to win in six games en route to another title.

So at final tally, that’s three notable injuries, two BS suspensions and one unbelievably lucky game-winner that theoretically prevented Nash from ever reaching the NBA Finals. In three of Nash’s six peak seasons, the Suns were defeated by the eventual champs late in the playoffs.

That’s just the bad luck of playing in the West, or in the NBA in general, for that matter. It takes a little luck to win a title, and Nash’s Suns had very little when the postseason rolled around. Still, three Western Conference Finals appearances, 120 playoff games (78th all-time) and 4,289 playoff minutes (55th all-time) is nothing to scoff at.

Next: No. 5

5. Moving Up The All-Time Assist Leaderboard

As part of the most dynamic pick-and-roll duo since John Stockton and Karl Malone (more on this in a bit), Steve Nash was one of the best facilitators the NBA has ever seen. He led the league in assists six times (all with the Suns) and averaged 9.4 assists per game in his 10 seasons in Phoenix.

What’s impressive is that number includes his first two seasons in the league, when he hardly played because the Suns had Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson and Sam Cassell on the roster already. In his second stint with the Suns, Nash averaged 11.5 assists per game.

On Apr. 8, 2014, Nash moved into third on the all-time assist leaderboard, passing Mark Jackson’s 10,334 dimes in the process. His 10,335th assist came on a fast break dunk by Jodie Meeks Goran Dragic in front of a completely lethargic roaring crowd at Staples Center US Airways Center. (In case you didn’t notice, we’re ignoring that this Nash achievement came with the Lakers).

Ok, so maybe it didn’t happen in Phoenix, but since 6,997 of Nash’s 10,335 career assists came with the Suns, and since only 419 of them came in his time in Los Angeles, we’re counting this. Besides, at that point in the Lakers’ season, only Steve Nash die-hards in Phoenix were still tuning in to watch that team Lakers team play anyway.

It’s sad that that was actually the last assist of Nash’s career, since he was sidelined with a hamstring injury he sustained in that game. Nash would never play another NBA game after that and he’d never record another dime, but it was enough to put him exactly one assist ahead of Jackson for third all-time. You can’t make this stuff up.

Next: No. 4

4. Nash And Stat Pick And Rolls

No need to bend the rules on this one, since Nash and Stoudemire were absolutely unstoppable in the high pick-and-roll. They were the second most mutually beneficial pick-and-roll duo of all-time, behind only Stockton and Malone.

If you went under the screen, Nash could knock down a three or a mid-range jumper as a regular 40+ percent three-point shooter. If you tried to trap Nash, he’d find STAT rolling to the rim or a shooter left wide open by the help defense. If you tried to switch the screen, Nash would break down the bigger defender off the dribble, or he’d capitalize on a smaller defender guarding Stoudemire. Or both.

Nash was crafty and quick enough to drive past bigger defenders and burn them at the rim with tricky little scoop shots that no one could block. He would always keep the ball just far enough in front of his defender that he could convert once he got by his man.

Even when the defender was in good position to reject the smaller Nash’s shot, he’d find a way to pull off a pump fake, find an open player or just do something silly like this reverse layup:

What’s scary is cutting off Nash was only Part 1 of the attack. Because if the defense managed to cut off Nash’s initial move out of the pick and roll, they still had to worry about his perfect pocket passes to Stoudemire, who would usually take them and do something like this:

Even a proper hedge on these screen and rolls would leave defenses vulnerable to STAT slipping the screen, catching a pocket pass from Nash and throwing it down with authority.

You really can’t contrive a better modern-day pick and roll duo. Nash’s ball handling skills, court vision and ability to get the ball to his man through a crowd mixed perfectly with Stoudemire’s strength, agility, soft hands and explosive finishing power at the rim.

It’s hard to pick one Nash-Stoudemire pick-and-roll highlight, but you can’t mention Steve Nash without talking about the pick-and-roll tandem that made Phoenix’s offense so unstoppable for so long.

Next: No. 3

3. Nash’s Phoenix Finale

On the night of Steve Nash’s final game with the Phoenix Suns, I wasn’t even covering the team as a journalist yet. I was just a college kid who went to Arizona State University and had a lot of homework that night.

But like many students from the the downtown Phoenix campus, I decided a long night of studying could wait and made the 10-minute trek to US Airways Center to witness what, at the time, “might” have been Nash’s last game with the Suns. As soon as we got there and saw how packed it was, however, we knew the truth deep down. This was his Phoenix finale.

It wasn’t a pretty game. The Spurs were resting their starters with their spot in the playoffs already secured, and Alvin Gentry played his bench players since Phoenix wasn’t in the playoff hunt. Nash only played 17 minutes in the game, and the Suns gave up a 20-10 run in the final five minutes to lose the game, 110-106.

But nobody cared about any of that. With the clock winding down in the fourth quarter and Nash sitting on the floor at the end of the bench, as he often did because of his back, the entire crowd at US Airways Center stood up and started chanting in unison: “WE WANT STEVE! WE WANT STEVE! WE WANT STEVE!”

When Gentry finally obliged with 3:57 left in the game, deafening cheers rained down in a way I haven’t heard at US Airways Center since. Not even Goran Dragic’s 40 points against the New Orleans Pelicans or Eric Bledsoe‘s near triple-double against the Oklahoma City Thunder came close to this.

It didn’t matter that Nash’s first play of the game was a turnover. It didn’t matter than Gentry subbed him back out a minute later. It didn’t even matter that the Suns lost to the Spurs’ third string in the end. For that one-minute curtain call, Suns fans got to thank their hero for all he had given them over the years.

Nash left that summer for the Los Angeles Lakers, and that definitely ruined a lot of Suns fans’ Fourth of Julys. But it didn’t diminish the moment of that packed US Airways Center, nor did it taint the goose bump-inducing memory of that massive crowd chanting, “WE WANT STEVE! WE WANT STEVE! WE WANT STEVE!”

Next: No. 2

2. Winning The 2004-05 MVP Award

Stat line: 75 games, 15.5 PPG, 11.5 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG, .502/.431/.887 shooting, 22.0 PER

Put your torches and pitchforks in a place where you can’t immediately reach them, Suns fans. I’ve got to say something that plenty of other people have said over the years, a statement that is viewed as erroneous by most Phoenix faithful. But the truth is, in 2004-05 AND in 2005-06, Steve Nash might not have deserved his MVP Award. (*Ducks*.)

Again, I hope you put those torches and pitchforks out of reach. In 2004-05, Shaquille O’Neal was robbed for his stellar season with the Miami Heat. In 2006-07, it was actually Kobe Bryant who got snubbed (I know, I know, a blasphemous statement in the eyes of Suns fans everywhere).

That being said, who really gives a s**t at this point?

Nash’s first two seasons with the Suns were stellar and deserve the proper acclaim for how quickly he turned a struggling franchise around. The season before Nash arrived, the Suns had posted a 29-53 record. His first season in Phoenix, the Suns shifted gears dramatically, going an NBA-best 62-20. That’s a 33-game turnaround in the win column.

Nash and the Suns fell short in the Western Conference Finals, but his status as the league’s best point guard was unquestionable. Nash fell mere percentage points short of joining the 50-40-90 club for the first time, he was a floppy-haired Canadian who was the ringmaster of the league’s most exciting offense and he was such a nice guy it was impossible to root against him.

For those reasons, and because Dwyane Wade was emerging that season, Shaq got snubbed a bit. But Nash became just the second Phoenix Sun to win an MVP Award that season and if we’re listing the top 10 moments of his career with the Suns, this has to be one of the sweetest.

Next: No. 1

1. Winning The 2005-06 MVP Award

Stat line: 79 games, 18.8 PPG, 10.5 APG, 4.2 RPG, 0.8 SPG, .512/.439/.921 shooting, 23.3 PER

Even if Kobe Bryant did get the short end of the stick in 2005-06, that probably made it even sweeter for Nash to take home his second consecutive MVP Award.

Kobe probably deserved it more (35.4 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.5 APG), but Nash’s stat line from this MVP season is a lot more impressive than his 2004-05 numbers. He stepped up his scoring, he joined the 50-40-90 club for the first time and he led the Suns to 54 wins and the Western Conference Finals without Amar’e Stoudemire.

What’s ironic is that Nash actually should have won the MVP Award in 2007 after having the best season of his career. That year, the NBA featured an underwhelming MVP race that ended with Dirk Nowitzki winning the award…after his Mavs had already been eliminated by the “We Believe” Golden State Warriors in the first round. Here are Nash’s numbers from that ’07 season:

• 76 games, 18.6 PPG, 11.6 APG, 3.5 RPG, 0.8 SPG, .532/.455/.899 shooting, 23.8 PER

But since Nash had just won back-to-back MVPs, the award rightfully went to someone else. Because of this, I think it’s okay for Suns fans to celebrate Nash’s MVPs since he wound up getting snubbed himself in 2007.

Bearing all that voting controversy in mind, the 2005-06 season was easily the best Nash had with the Suns to that point in his career. He led the league in assists for the second year in a row, he led the NBA in free throw percentage and he also posted a league-best true shooting percentage of 63.2.

Furthermore, Nash further solidified himself among the all-time greats with his second consecutive MVP Award:

That’s some pretty darn elite company, no matter what you think about who deserved to win MVP in ’05, ’06 and ’07. I’m sure Nash would’ve traded both of his MVP trophies in for a Larry O’Brien trophy, but in terms of his top 10 moments with the Suns, nothing tops winning back-to-back MVPs.

Nash retires as one of the greatest statistical point guards ever, a world-class human being and the greatest Phoenix Sun of all time.

Next: Goran Dragic: Top 10 Moments With The Phoenix Suns

More from Valley of the Suns

• Ranking the Phoenix Suns’ 5 holiday games in 2023-24
• Zion Williamson gets compared to Phoenix Suns legend
• Suns player preview: Bol Bol can be the perfect role player
• Former Suns’ guard shows he is officially done with Phoenix
• NBA insider guarantees Suns’ rival won’t make blockbuster trade