Top Stretches: Remembering Steve Nash At His Best
By Scott Chasen
#1: 2005 Western Conference Semifinals: Games 3-6
37.0 ppg… 11.5 apg… 7.5 rpg… 1.5 spg… 59.6 FG%… 50.0 3pt%… 94.7 FT%…
Let me repeat that.
37.0 ppg… 11.5 apg… 7.5 rpg… 1.5 spg… 59.6 FG%… 50.0 3pt%… 94.7 FT%…
Over those four games, Steve Nash posted not only one of the greatest performances by a point guard, but by any player ever in a playoff series. Nash absolutely dominated the Mavericks, and he did so in different ways.
In game three, Nash poured in 27 points, but perhaps most impressively, he racked up 17 assists, which set a playoffs career-high for Nash at that point. Nash scored or assisted on more than half of the team’s points in the contest, accounting for more offense than any other player in the game, and he was just getting started.
Game four provided an offensive explosion, to the tune of 48 points, a career-high point total for Nash. The point guard averaged a video game-like 1.7 points per field goal attempt, knocking down better than 70% of his shots and more than 65% of his three-pointers. The fact that Nash scored 48 points on 28 shots with just FOUR free throws is simply ridiculous, and something that will probably not be seen again for a long time, if ever.
In fact, only one other player, Vince Carter, has ever posted more than 45 points in a game with less than 30 field goal and 4 free throw attempts, and in that game, Carter only got to the point total by launching up 13 three-pointers, compared to 6 for Nash. Now, one difference was that Carter’s effort came in a victory, whereas Nash’s was in a loss, but the Suns would be done losing after that point, at least in that series.
In game five, Nash posted his second career triple double, and he became the first player in NBA playoffs history to record a triple double with at least 34 points, 12 assists and 13 rebounds. To this day, only one other player has accomplished that feat, LeBron James, but James relied on 43 combined free throws and field goal attempts to hit his point total, Nash required only 32.
Just two nights later, Nash would provide the knockout punch with a 39-point, 12-assist, 9-rebound outing against the Mavericks, becoming the only player in playoffs history to post those numbers in a win. In that game, Nash played 50 minutes, a total he would eclipse a total of three times in his playoffs career, and he made five three-pointers, which was a playoffs career-high.
When it was all said and done, Nash had absolutely decimated the Dallas Mavericks, and the Suns were moving on to the next round. Even throwing in his “lesser” games, Nash averaged 30.3 points, 12.0 assists and 6.5 rebounds per game for the series, while shooting 55.0% from the field, 41.9% from three and 96.2% from the free throw line.
Oh, and the momentum would carry over into the next round against the Spurs, where Nash would start off averaging 29.0 points, 14.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game on 56.8% shooting from the field, 50% shooting from three and 100% shooting from the line.
Certainly a memorable series. Certainly a memorable career.