Take that, Curt Schilling. Nothing says true warrior more than playing despite having blood oozing into your eyes and down your face. Steve Nash has some guts. When Nash was forced to the sidelines yesterday during the Suns defeat against the Spurs, the juggernaut collapsed. Sure, they hung with San Antonio until the end, but if you watched the game, you saw exactly what happened when Steve Nash wasn’t in the game during crucial moments.
Greg Popovich thought he was so brilliant by putting his best defender, Bruce Bowen, on Nash during the game. The “Kobe Stopper” stopped nothing that Nash threw at him, and when Nash was forced from the game, he exited with 31 points and 8 assists. Nice job Bruce. Enter Leandro Barbosa, a good back up point guard who many feel could start around the league. Barbosa has been huge for the Suns all year, and there have been games when he’s taken over and single handedly won it for the Suns. Last night was not one of those moments.
Barbosa, who had entered the game for Nash, committed a stupid off the ball foul on Tony Parker, sending the Frenchman to the line for a shot and then possession of the ball. This came after Boris Diaw brain farted his way to a pathetic jump shot without using good clock management. See what happens if Nash exits the game in a crucial time? If Nash had been on the floor for that last few minutes of the game, there’s no doubt in my mind that the Suns would have taken game one.
What’s done is done. I’m sure Barbosa and Diaw will hit their shots in game two and all will be forgotten. There’s no denying, however, the impact that Steve Nash has on the Suns and that his level of play is so high that it can’t be duplicated, at least not by a bench player. Take your bloody sock and shove it Schilling, Steve Nash is greater than you.
