With a career spanning over 18 years, Steve Nash made a habit of leaving the spectator dazzled with his artistry on the court.
It is almost impossible to pick out top 5 moments from 1217 games but we are going to give it a shot and see what comes out of it.
So, without further delay, let’s look at the most memorable moments from the career of the finest basketball import from Canada
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#5 Getting Drafted into the NBA
For a kid who started playing basketball in his teens and did not get a major scholarship to play basketball from a big name college and was recruited by only one college, making the NBA is a difficult dream to chase.
For that kid, to overcome that and then make the Basketball Hall of Fame, is near improbable. But that is legends are made of.
#4 Overcoming the Curse of the Spurs
Before going into the 2010 series against the San Antonio Spurs, Steve Nash had never defeated the Texans in an NBA Playoffs series.
And Nash made it a mission to change. With a dominating performance in Game 1, a team effort in Game 2 and a Goran Dragic performance for the ages in Game 3, the Suns headed into Game 4 with a near-unassailable 3-0 lead.
And then calamity stuck, or we thought so.
An inadvertent elbow to the face by Tim Duncan left Nash with an eye fully shut with 12 minutes to go in Game 4 and depending on the health of the two-time MVP, possibly very intriguing Game 5-7.
Plus, it must have brought back the bad memories of the broken nose to the Horry shove from the years gone by.
Or we thought so.
Nash came back to the court in the fourth quarter, with one eye stitched up and decided it was time to shut shop.
With an ice-cold triple to crafty floaters to timely assists, Nash put in 10 points and 5 assists in the final frame to hammer the final nail in the coffin of the Spurs and buried the bad memories of Gregg Popovich and co.
#3 23 Assists vs. the Lakers
A maestro at his peak.
With a near invincible 3-1 lead in his sight against Kobe Bryant and co. in 2007, Steve Nash brought back the memories of the Showtime Lakers at the Staples Center.
Putting on a masterclass on what it means to be a Floor General. Controlling the proceedings from the start, Steve Nash finished with 23 assists to go along with 17 points and pushed the Lakers to the brink.
This might have been Nash at his peak.
Picking his spots to score, feeding his teammates when they needed to be fed and putting his pedal to the metal when required the most.
To be precise, he created a bit of ‘Magic’ that night in Los Angeles.
#2 Revenge vs. the Dallas Mavericks
After being told that he was not needed anymore by the Dallas Mavericks in 2004, he was signed up by the Sun to return to Phoenix.
While he was considered a solid signing at the time, nobody expected or was ready for what was going to happen next.
Spearheading a blistering offense, Nash transformed a 29-win team from one year ago to a 62-win powerhouse and winning his 1st MVP.
And then he faced the Dallas Mavericks in the Conference Semi-Finals.
In the 6-game series, he averaged 30.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 12.0 assists while producing two of his finest performances in Game 5 and Game 6 to draw the curtains on the Mavericks’ season and made sure Dallas regretted their decision for a while.
#1 Winning back-to-back MVPs
Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Steve Nash.
That is the list of the players in the history of the game to win back-to-back MVPs.
And for an under-recruited Canadian to achieve that honour speaks to his immense hard work.
From being an unselfish player to a passing wizard to the engine of some of the highest potent offenses in the history of the game to an impeccable leader and much more… Steve Nash won back-to-back MVPs.
And that is why; he will be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame comes this Friday.
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