Wow, simply put wow. For once in my life I am thrilled to say that I get the New Jersey Net games on my cable services. Why because I was lucky enough to flip the channels and land on YES at the start of the 4th quarter. If you haven't seen the highlights yet, go to the Suns official site.
Steve Nash = Point Guard of My Dreams
Nash was always good for the Mavericks but watching him on the Suns he does every single thing on the offensive end as a point guard that I wished I could have done. Let me list the ways:
1) First off he has excellent handle, he has every dribble in the book and I you almost never see him mishandle a dribble. Last night on one pick and roll the Nets defended it by severely hedging the screen, Nash handled this by splitting the defense, but not with a normal dribble instead he dribbled it several feet in front of him giving him the opportunity to sprint to the ball and gain extra speed, it was like a soccer player dribbling the ball far away so he could blow by a defender, other than the three it was my favorite Nash play of the night.
2) He's fearless. Both with taking the big shot and in the paint. Nash isn't a tall guy 6 feet nothing but he has no problem attacking the paint with floaters finger rolls. When he beats his defender to get into the paint he uses his body perfectly to shield the ball away from the big defender. As for taking the last shot, did you see last nights three. Enough said.
3) Smooth stroke. No one has a better shot than Nash I would rather have him take an open jumper than any guy in the NBA. Combine that with the fact he rarely hits the rim on any free throw you could ask for more shooting skills for a 1.
4) Obviously the vision and the ability to penetrate, cause the defense to collapse and create open shots for teammates. The ideal point guard creates open shots whether they be layups or 3s or mid range jumpers for their teammates and no one in the league currently does that better than Nash.
5) My favorite of all is Nash's desire to push the tempo non-stop often times catching the defense off balance and not set up enough to defend every guy. This allows Nash to easily pinpoint the open man who he always gets the ball to.
No Defense is Played
Who truly likes watching defense during a basketball game. Sure you don't want to see non stop lay up drills but were those Knicks Heat matchups in the 90s much good for anything other than hard fouls and the occasional brawl. The Suns are pretty much a 180 from the 90s Knicks, zero physical toughness, all speed, all offense, zero height, lots of fun. The best part about the Suns is the play so fast and furious that you basically don't notice that both teams aren't playing defense.
Suns Offense
One of the best moments of the game yesterday was following a Nets made basket where it took the Suns 2 passes and approximately 3 seconds to score. An in bound to Nash who hit a sprinting Marion 3/4 of the length of the court directly under the basket who immediately made a layup. Mark Jackson, Nets Color Guy, could not even finish saying that was a nice catch and shoot by Jefferson. He immediately had to say that was a nice catch and shoot by Marion. You don't see these plays much by any other team.
The Suns also play smart offense unlike the majority of the teams in the NBA, the set up their players to succeed. Much of that comes from Nash, but a lot of it is D'Antoni as well. Last night for instance the Nets were switching on pick and rolls, whenever they would do that with Diaw, Kidd would end up covering him, Nash fed him the ball and Diaw abused Kidd in the paint every time.
Instead of the flowing Suns offense, most of the NBA teams end up with the boring get the ball to the superstar, Paul Pierce, watch him try to drive or pull up and then run back for defense. There's no ball movement, no decision making, no flow, no excitement. Most NBA offenses are boring.
Basically I wish the Suns were my team, I wish I got to watch them daily, I wish they weren't on the West Coast playing most of their games while I slumber, then I may care more about the NBA. Instead I'm a Celtics fan,a team with a roster consisting of a majority of players who should still be in college, have a coach and GM who are on the chopping block, and have one of the worst records in the NBA.
Steve Nash = Point Guard of My Dreams
Nash was always good for the Mavericks but watching him on the Suns he does every single thing on the offensive end as a point guard that I wished I could have done. Let me list the ways:
1) First off he has excellent handle, he has every dribble in the book and I you almost never see him mishandle a dribble. Last night on one pick and roll the Nets defended it by severely hedging the screen, Nash handled this by splitting the defense, but not with a normal dribble instead he dribbled it several feet in front of him giving him the opportunity to sprint to the ball and gain extra speed, it was like a soccer player dribbling the ball far away so he could blow by a defender, other than the three it was my favorite Nash play of the night.
2) He's fearless. Both with taking the big shot and in the paint. Nash isn't a tall guy 6 feet nothing but he has no problem attacking the paint with floaters finger rolls. When he beats his defender to get into the paint he uses his body perfectly to shield the ball away from the big defender. As for taking the last shot, did you see last nights three. Enough said.
3) Smooth stroke. No one has a better shot than Nash I would rather have him take an open jumper than any guy in the NBA. Combine that with the fact he rarely hits the rim on any free throw you could ask for more shooting skills for a 1.
4) Obviously the vision and the ability to penetrate, cause the defense to collapse and create open shots for teammates. The ideal point guard creates open shots whether they be layups or 3s or mid range jumpers for their teammates and no one in the league currently does that better than Nash.
5) My favorite of all is Nash's desire to push the tempo non-stop often times catching the defense off balance and not set up enough to defend every guy. This allows Nash to easily pinpoint the open man who he always gets the ball to.
No Defense is Played
Who truly likes watching defense during a basketball game. Sure you don't want to see non stop lay up drills but were those Knicks Heat matchups in the 90s much good for anything other than hard fouls and the occasional brawl. The Suns are pretty much a 180 from the 90s Knicks, zero physical toughness, all speed, all offense, zero height, lots of fun. The best part about the Suns is the play so fast and furious that you basically don't notice that both teams aren't playing defense.
Suns Offense
One of the best moments of the game yesterday was following a Nets made basket where it took the Suns 2 passes and approximately 3 seconds to score. An in bound to Nash who hit a sprinting Marion 3/4 of the length of the court directly under the basket who immediately made a layup. Mark Jackson, Nets Color Guy, could not even finish saying that was a nice catch and shoot by Jefferson. He immediately had to say that was a nice catch and shoot by Marion. You don't see these plays much by any other team.
The Suns also play smart offense unlike the majority of the teams in the NBA, the set up their players to succeed. Much of that comes from Nash, but a lot of it is D'Antoni as well. Last night for instance the Nets were switching on pick and rolls, whenever they would do that with Diaw, Kidd would end up covering him, Nash fed him the ball and Diaw abused Kidd in the paint every time.
Instead of the flowing Suns offense, most of the NBA teams end up with the boring get the ball to the superstar, Paul Pierce, watch him try to drive or pull up and then run back for defense. There's no ball movement, no decision making, no flow, no excitement. Most NBA offenses are boring.
Basically I wish the Suns were my team, I wish I got to watch them daily, I wish they weren't on the West Coast playing most of their games while I slumber, then I may care more about the NBA. Instead I'm a Celtics fan,a team with a roster consisting of a majority of players who should still be in college, have a coach and GM who are on the chopping block, and have one of the worst records in the NBA.
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