How should Steve Nash be remembered?
Perhaps the most complete offensive point guard in NBA history, Steve Nash dazzled fans in Phoenix for years with his ridiculous passing ability, silky smooth jump shot and team-first attitude. While never reaching an NBA Finals, Nash certainly left his mark on the league, running Mike D’Antoni’s “7 Seconds or Less” offense to perfection, all while racking up milestones at every turn.
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Nash retires as one of just five players in NBA history with more than 10,000 career assists, and he currently sits at third all-time on the leaderboard, behind only John Stockton and Jason Kidd. The point guard out of Santa Clara was also one of the best shooters in NBA history, sitting at 1st all-time in free throw percentage, 15th all-time in made three-point field goals and 10th all-time in three-point percentage, totaling over 17,300 points in his lengthy career.
As a scorer, Nash had four seasons where he shot better than 50% from the field, 40% from three and 90% from the free throw line, more than twice as many as any other player in NBA history, and if you were to drop each of those numbers by 1%, Nash would tally eight seasons of the ridiculous production.
However, when the question comes up of who the best shooter in NBA history is, the names included are typically Reggie Miller, Ray Allen and more recently, Stephen Curry. Nash absolutely deserves to be included in there, having shot better than 40% from three 14 times, something none of the others have come close to doing.
Additionally, Nash had one year where he shot 47.0% from three, which at least 1.5% higher than any season from Miller, Allen or Curry, and really it seems that the only reason people discredit his shot is because they remember him more as a passer. However, as you’ll see as you read on (and if you’re a Suns’ fan, as you probably already know), Nash could absolutely score when needed, breaking out with multiple 40-point performances in his career, despite the pass-first point guard label.
Overall, Nash was an eight-time All Star, making three appearances on the All-NBA First Team and four appearances on the All-NBA Second and Third Teams. Nash led the NBA in assists five times, while winning the NBA Skills Competition two times: Certainly not too shabby for the 15th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.
So who’s up for a little reminiscing?
Next: Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention
Dropping Dimes (2006)
Over a 31 game stretch in the 2005-06 season, Steve Nash would rack up 10+ assists in 15 of 17 games, cracking the 15-assist mark seven times. Nash topped out with 22 assists in one game, and he wasn’t just getting it done with his passing.
Nash would hit the 20-point total 12 times in that period, although he did so with less efficiency than was typical for him. Nash shot worse than 35% from three six times, and he had 5+ turnovers eight times, which kept the stretch out of the top-five, in addition to the fact that the Suns went just 12-5 in those 17 games, compared to some other stretches where they quite simply didn’t lose at all.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy what is quite possibly the
worst
greatest music to accompany a highlight reel in NBA history… Add it to the list of accolades I guess:
Nash’s 2005-06 season would still go down as one of his best, as he racked up his second-straight MVP award, but ultimately it was a down year for the Suns, who won eight fewer gamest than they did the year before. Regardless, Phoenix would still finish at first in the NBA in scoring by a margin of nearly seven points per game, finishing fourth in average margin of victory at +5.5
The Comeback Series (2006)
In the 2006 NBA Playoffs, Nash and the Suns would find themselves in a 3-1 hole against the Lakers, but as one might assume from the fact that this is listed in this article, the Suns did not go quietly. Averaging roughly 22 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds per game, Nash and the Suns rattled off three straight victories to take the series in seven games, and it was certainly a series with Nash’s fingerprints all over it.
Nash’s best two outings saw him average more than 30 points per game, as he had his way against the Lakers. In game two, Nash went for 29 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds, while shooting 58.8% from the field. Then, in game six, Nash dropped 32 points on 9-of-14 shooting, knocking down all 13 of his free throws. After the decisive game seven, which the Suns won in a blowout, former Suns player and TNT Analyst Charles Barkley made a pretty strong statement about the Suns winning, saying it all came down to tempo.
“If you try to run with the Phoenix Suns, you’re going to lose,” Barkley said. “You got no chance.”
Running The Show (2007)
If you want to know what the definition of foreshadowing is, look no further than Steve Nash’s 2006-07 season. The point guard ended the year with 10+ assists in six of his last seven games, and 14+ assists in three of his last four games, so it was no surprise when that production carried over into the postseason.
Nash combined for 70 assists in five games during the Suns first round series, which included a 23-assist outing. In that game, Nash had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 7.7-to-1, and it wasn’t like he ignored his own shot, as he racked up 17 points in 39 minutes.
In 11 total playoff games, Nash would post 15+ assists three times, 13+ assists six times and 10+ assists 10 times, while scoring in double figures in every single game. Nash never combined for fewer than 23 points and assists, and he combined for 30+ points and assists eight times, while shooting 48.7% from three and 89.1% from the line, although the Suns would be bounced in the second round by the San Antonio Spurs, who you’ll read more about later.
Next: #5: The (First) MVP Stretch
#5: The MVP Stretch: January-February 2005
Obviously, a big part of Nash’s legacy is the fact that he won back-to-back MVP awards, in 2004-05 and 2005-06. During that first MVP season, Nash had stretches where he was dominant in different ways, starting with the first month of the season, where he recorded 16+ assists four times in a six game-stretch.
Moving forward to December, Nash started the month with his second-straight and third-straight games with 20+ points, before recording 11 games in a row with 10+ assists. However, Nash wasn’t exactly posting unbelievable numbers, until the New Year at least.
Nash started 2005 off on the right foot, recording at least 10 points or 10 assists in each of his first eight games, while recording five double-doubles, but a thigh injury would thwart his building momentum. Nash would be forced to sit out three games, all of which the Suns would lose.
However, upon returning, Nash picked right up where he’d left off, averaging 18.3 points, 9.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds in his first three games, but that was just the beginning.
Following those three games, Nash would record 10 double-doubles in his next 11 outings, while shooting 50% or better from three seven times, and hitting the 17-assist mark three times. Over the entire stretch, Captain Canada would average 19.7 points and 13.9 assists per game, inside of which was a three-game stretch where Nash averaged 28.0 points and 15.0 assists per game.
All in all, Nash would be back for 14 games before missing another contest due to injury, and with him playing, the Suns were able to follow up a six-game losing streak with a solid 10-4 stretch, which included a 5-game win streak and a 3-game win streak.
Phoenix would finish out the regular season at 62-20, which gave them the best record of any NBA team since the 1999-00 season, and Nash would go on to win his first of two MVP awards. Nash would also have some fun at All Star Weekend that year, which was located in Denver. Nash would help out teammate Amar’e Stoudemire in the Slam Dunk Contest, and then he would win the NBA Skills Competition, doing so by nearly 15 seconds in the finals, as he blew away Denver’s Earl Boykins.
Next: #4: Sweeping The Spurs
#4: Sweeping The Spurs… Finally
At the ripe age of 36, Steve Nash somewhat miraculously was able to post one of his most complete seasons ever. Nash played 81 of the possible 82 games that year, and his numbers actually improved from the year before, as he made his third straight appearance in the 50-40-90 club. Nash 93.8 free throw percentage was a career high for a single season, although it was very clear that he would be gunning for that mark early on.
Nash started the year with 12-straight made free throws, and by the end of the second month of the season, he was perfect at the line in 19 of his 22 games. In fact, in the first and last months of the season, Nash made all 23 of his free throw attempts, but that wasn’t what defined his season… at all…
The Suns made the playoffs as the three-seed, although they were almost eliminated in the first round by the Portland Trail Blazers. Despite a 25-point, 9-assist outing by Nash, the Suns fell in game one, despite leading with less than five minutes to go in the game. The Suns would also lose game four, but they came back to handle the Trail Blazers with relative ease in games five and six, winning by a combined 28 points.
Then came the Spurs…
Yes… those Spurs…
In the series, Nash got out to a strong start, with a 33-point, 10-assist double-double, which would set the tone as the Suns took the first game of the series. In that game, Nash combined for 13 points and rebounds, a mark he would hit in three of the four games that series.
Over the next two contests, Nash would post 17.5 points, 7.0 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game, while shooting just under 50% from the field and exactly 90% from the line, but perhaps most importantly, Nash would post plus/minus scores of +7 and +6, as the Suns went 2-0.
With a 3-0 lead, Phoenix had to be feeling good about itself, but things changed for the worse when Steve Nash was forced to leave the court in game four, after he was inadvertently elbowed in the face by Tim Duncan.
It seemed like Nash could’ve probably sit out the game, knowing that his team would have four shots to get a single win, but that wasn’t the case. Nash had lost three-straight playoff series to the Spurs, and he wasn’t about to leave the door open. One eye and all, he returned to the game, hitting crucial baskets down the stretch as the Suns went on to win.
Nash finished out the series averaging 22.0 points, 7.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game, shooting over 55% from the field and over 45% from three, and that momentum would carry over into the next round, although the Suns would fall to the eventual NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers in six games.
Nash started out the Western Conference Finals with three straight double-doubles, averaging over 14 assists per game, and in the team’s last two contests, Nash would average 25.0 points, 10.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game, while shooting a combined 20-of-31 (64.5%) from the field.
That series still stands out to many, because had Ron Artest not gotten his miracle putback off of a Kobe airball to win game five, the Suns likely would’ve taken a 3-2 lead, while heading home for game six. Then, if Phoenix had won just one of the last two games, they would’ve gotten to face the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, a team that they swept in the regular season, winning by an average of 12.5 points per game.
What could’ve been… What could’ve been…
Next: #3: The Streak, Part 1
#3: The Streak, Part 1: November-December 2006
The Suns got off to a rough start in the 2006-07 season, which began with a mediocre preseason. The team split its six games, going 3-3, but perhaps most troubling, the team cracked the 105-point barrier just once, after doing it eight total times in the last two preseasons.
That lack of production spilled over into the regular season, as the Suns started the year 3-6, averaging fewer points per game than they did the year before, and things weren’t getting any easier, as Nash had already missed two games due to injury. Phoenix looked like a dramatically different team from the one that had gone 54-28 the season before, which ended up being the case, but not because they were worse… They were better.
A lot better.
Nash returned with a modest 19-point, 15- assist performance, leading the Suns to a win, which would be the case quite often in the coming weeks. In fact, the Suns would not lose again for more than a month, and after starting the season with six quick losses. the team would not hit the 10-loss total until February, 47 games into the year.
After starting 3-6, the Suns would rattle off 15-straight wins, with Nash posting 10+ assists in all-but three games. Nash shot 40%-or-better from three in 11 of the games, shooting 50%-or-better from three in eight different outings.
Over that stretch, Nash would have some simply ridiculous games, including a 42-point, 13-assist, 6-rebound against the (then) New Jersey Nets, and an 11-point, 20-assist outing against Sacramento. In that time, Nash averaged 0.3 missed free throws per game, despite attempting more than 50 in the 15 games, and he recorded a steal in all but three games.
The Suns hit their stride over that stretch, putting up ridiculous offensive outings, the likes of which have seldom been repeated since. The offense reached totals of 161, 127, 122, 119, 116, 115, 114 and 113 points, while actually playing some solid defense.
The Suns held opponents to less than 90 points on four separate occasions, allowing fewer than 100 points eight times, despite playing at not only the fastest pace in the NBA, but one of the fastest paces in NBA history.
Oh, and when the streak came to an end, it was certainly in spectacular fashion. Nash went for 42 points and 12 assists against the Washington Wizards, but on the other side of things, Gilbert Arenas scored 54 points on 37 shots, giving his team the win in what was certainly a memorable contest.
Next: #2: The Streak, Part 2
#2: The Streak, Part 2: January 2007
After getting back on track with a 15-game win streak, the Suns were well on their way to a playoff berth, but what they did in January certainly turned some heads. The Suns lost a grand total of one game in the month… ONE GAME… winning more games by 20+ points (4) than by fewer than 5 (2).
Steve Nash racked up 8+ assists in all-but one game, while committing one turnover or less five times. Overall, Captain Canada averaged 3.6 turnovers per game, but that was mostly due to the fact that the ball was in his hands far more often than not when he was on the court. And he was certainly on the court for a long time.
Nash averaged more than 35 minutes per game in the 2006-07 season, and he played 35+ minutes in 12 of the team’s 16 games over the month. As has always been the case, Nash easily avoided foul trouble, picking up more than two fouls on just one occasion, but overall, there was one number that was more impressive than all the others…
Assists.
To close out January, Nash racked up 14+ assists in five consecutive games, a total he hit in nearly 60% of the games he played in. One of the greatest pure passers of all time, Nash averaged 13.0 assists per game over the month, with games of 21, 18, 16, 15 (three times) and 14 (also three times) assists. In fact, this might be a good opportunity to take a break and watch some of his greatest assists, before reading on…
Scoring wasn’t really a priority for Nash over that stretch, but it really didn’t have to be. In the last game before January, Nash dropped 35 points on 19 shots, and with a couple of 40-point games earlier in the year, he had pretty much hit his offensive explosion quota for the season.
However, while Nash may have lacked in quantity (and I use that term very loosely, considering he still averaged 18.0 points per game), he certainly didn’t lack in quality. On three separate occasions, Nash shot at least 73% from the field, including an 11-of-13 performance against the Washington Wizards. With a 54.5 field goal percentage and a 45.7 three-point percentage, Nash was just about as good as one could be from the field over an extended period of time, but he did have one weakness: Free throws.
Okay, so Nash actually shot 84.6% from the free throw line, which is pretty fantastic for most, but it was his worst shooting month of the season at the charity stripe. That number would actually be pretty key for Nash, as he would end up just three made free throws away from posting another 50-40-90 season, finishing the year with a free throw percentage of 89.9%.
Next: #1: A Texas-Sized Playoff Performance
#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.