March 30th, 2010
Sun Not Setting on Nash
With win No. 10 logged into the ledger, the Nets can breathe easy. Play for the future. For fun. For something other than infamy.
And even for potential free agents like Phoenix Suns forward Amar’e Stoudemire, who brings 22.9 PPG and 8.9 RPG to the IZOD Center on Wednesday. The Nets, having won three of four games, will challenge a Suns team that enters having won seven in a row and 21 of 26 dating back to January 28.
Stoudemire’s been a major part of that, averaging obscene numbers in March (28.8 PPG, 10.3 RPG, .591 FG%) after an impressive February (25.3 PPG, 10.1 RPG, .532 FG%). Yet the driving force behind the Suns’ high-powered offense remains the point guard.
In his 14th season out of Santa Clara, the 36-year-old Steve Nash continues to produce at the levels that earned him back-to-back NBA MVP Awards in 2005 and 2006. Averaging 16.6 points and 11.1 assists, Nash is on the verge of shooting better than 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line for a third straight season.
This comes as no surprise to Nets coach and general manager Kiki Vandeweghe, who worked with Nash during two seasons as the director of player development with the Mavericks nearly 10 years ago.
“When I was in Dallas, he, Dirk (Nowitzki) and I for two years spent two hours every single evening shooting together, watching tape and doing different things, Vandeweghe explained. He’s a student of the game he’s studied (legendary Jazz PG) John Stockton a lot. He’s continued to work, continued to improve. But he’s also got a real drive to be good; he’s very competitive.
“And his skill set I think he’s an underrated shooter. As good of a shooter as you think he is, he’s better than that. And he’s a good person, a great leader. He’s going to be somebody that’s good right until he decides to hang ’em up.”
That can be confounding for the NBA’s younger generation. Nets point guard Devin Harris entered the league eight drafts after Nash, and jokingly suggested Nash’s ability to plateau at his peak resulted from something in Canada’s gene pool.
“I don’t know,” Harris admitted. “He takes great care of his body he’s in great shape. Mentally, he’s one of the smartest guards out there. He knows what he’s capable of doing, and obviously he knows his restrictions. That man’s trained to go until he’s 42.”
That would provide the Suns with another six years of service, and they’d be glad to continue surrounding Nash with shooters like Jason Richardson (.473 FG%, .384 3P%), Grant Hill (.477 FG%, .433 3P%) and – most surprisingly – center Channing Frye. The fifth-year big man, shooting .450 overall and .442 from long-range, has already made 155 three-pointers this season; in the previous four, he attempted only 70.
The Suns offense, which ranks top five by most measures, will provide a challenge for the recently improved Nets defense. In the past four games, the Nets have twice allowed fewer than 85 points after last doing so at the end of January, 25 games ago.
--Posted by Ben Couch at 3:29 p.m.
|
