Like Pirlo on the football pitch, coaching may not be Nash's area of expertise, but his artistic and legendary career is something that every fan will love.
Stories featuring Nash usually start in Dallas, not because they are ashamed of their bench career as a rookie, but because those years were really lackluster, and after becoming a cowboy in Dallas, Nash's career gradually became colorful. For Chinese fans, the Mavericks team is of great significance, Wang Zhizhi is in it, and the gorgeous basketball performed by the three musketeers under the old Nelson is also a unique landscape of that era.
As the team's third-in-command and organizer, Nash rarely takes the initiative to look for shooting opportunities, and his selflessness makes the elder Nelson very "depressed", and he once stipulated that canadians should make at least 10 shots per night. It proved to be a difficult task to complete, and in the 1999-2000 season, Nash averaged 7.9 shots per game. "He always wants to pass the ball first." Nelson Sr. said, "I think for a certain type of team, it's not a problem, but I need him to score 15 points a night, maybe it's contrary to his philosophy." ”
Cuban injected a crazy temperament into his team, Nelson Sr. gave the team's players more freedom, and the galloping cowboys were unique in the West. In the arms race, Cuban never flinched, he spent thousands of dollars, successively recruited Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway, Laflentz, Walker and other famous generals, and then in the era of defense supremacy, dallas who advocated gorgeous offense were like outliers, did not get God's favor, and fell at the feet of spurs and kings again and again. In the era of the Three Musketeers, these two teams became insurmountable barriers for cowboys, and beautiful basketball always missed the final victory and drifted away from the championship.
The 2003 Western Conference Finals set the tone for the Mavericks, with Nowitzki accidentally injured and the 25-year-old German missing a crucial game in Game Six for safety. The Cowboys, who are 2-3 on aggregate, can only rely on Nash and Finley to defend the home stadium and fight the Spurs. On that thrilling night, Nash did everything he could, delivering a game-high 11 assists, combing through the lack of Dirk's offensive system on his own, and after three quarters, the Mavericks took a 13-point lead.
However, the old Spurs put it to death and sent Cole to gamble on the fourth quarter, the battle-hardened veteran killed the Cowboys with four three-pointers and shattered Nash's championship dreams, which was the best chance of his career with Nowitzki and Finley.
A year later, the Mavericks were eliminated in the first round and sent them out by their old rival King. In the final moments of the fifth game, Nash passed the ball to Dirk, but The King missed the kill. "I thought I could hit that goal," Nowitzki said, "it felt great, it was frustrating." The result of the defeat was difficult for Nash to accept, he believed that both the players themselves and the team system needed to change, such as strengthening the defense, but he did not expect that this would be his last game for the Mavericks.
In the summer of 2004, Nash had played 549 NBA regular season games. He's been an All-Star twice and an NBA Third Team twice. Cuban gave up on him: it's hard to have too much faith in a 30-year-old white defender with a back injury.
Nash chose to return to the Suns as he had no choice, and compared to the miserly Calf, the Sun's offer appeared quite sincere. The so-called good birds choose trees to roost, which is the most important and correct decision of Nash's career.
Great artists are always revolutionaries of the old times, who are accustomed to breaking with tradition, subverting the world, injecting their creative souls into art itself and giving it a living life. Just as the League was still pursuing the principle of "defense first" at a slow pace like a meat grinder, Nash and his sun were already on the road to rebellion.
In the 2005 semifinals, when the Sun and the Mavericks met in the Western Conference semifinals, Nash shot an arrow in front of Terry and cut the artery of the old main artery with his own hands. What makes it even harder for Cuban to accept is that the older point guard he decided a year ago that it wasn't worth a tens of millions of contracts has become an MVP.
It is not appropriate to make the encounter between D'Antoni and Nash into the story of Bole and Maxima, in essence, Canadians need a platform that can better reflect their own values, and Deshuai needs a perfect executor of the system, and the two are perfect and integrated with each other. Unlike the Cowboy's Three Musketeers period, the Wind Son of the Sun Age became a unique protagonist. The 7-second run not only allowed Nash to achieve himself, but also changed the fate of countless players.
Before joining the Suns, Joe Johnson was just an iron man with a certain singles technique, and after being a teammate with Nash, he was successfully gilded and turned gorgeously. The Hawks offered him a huge contract of 6 years and 120 million, which later became the key man recognized by the league; in the Suns' tactical system, Marion played the incredible athleticism to the extreme, he almost drove the pace of the gear to compete with the dislocated opponent, compared to the Mavericks' championship experience, the years of playing for the Suns may be more memorable; and Dior, the Frenchman of the year, was slimmer and more confused, he couldn't figure out what position he should play, and after partnering with Nash, he became the league's best freecourt; as for Xiaosi, with Nash's bonus, he was as unstoppable as Karl Malone.
Making it easier for teammates to score and perform better is just one part of Nash's leadership, and in his opinion, keeping locker room relationships harmonious is just as important as bringing teammates together. "It's my nature to be kind to people," Nash said, "and I try to be kind to people, especially those who mean a lot to me." As a point guard, that trait has helped me a lot, and creating scoring opportunities for my teammates may be an instinct that no one else has. ”
Nash led his teammates to run hard, and also helped the Suns complete a gorgeous turn, the Fish Belly team turned into a regular season champion, reached the Western Conference Finals, and Richardson, who scored the fewest points from the starting players, also averaged 14.9 points per game, and the Suns players got a beautiful enough report card. Selflessness is Nash's basketball philosophy, and in 2006 he again interpreted the definition of MVP with selflessness, and was named to Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people. Barkley commented: "Nash told us that being selfless on the pitch pays off and can make the players around us better. There are too many point guards in today's NBA with a strong desire to score, and Nash is different, there is no slightest egoism on the field, he just wants to pass the ball. ”
Nash's personal achievements reached a whole new level, with two MVP trophies enough to get him to sleep in the book of merits. However, like a triumphalist like Bryant, Nash envisioned the collective honor of standing on the top podium. Unfortunately, in his world, dreams never shine into reality.
If Nash were to choose a career Satan, he would not hesitate to point at the Spurs, a black-and-white team that often eclipses opponents.
In the 04-05 season, he led the Suns all the way to the Western Conference Finals, losing 1-4 to the San Antonio Spurs. While the world will note the miracle of Marion being banned by Bowen and Stoudemire averaging 37 points per game in this series, it is rare to notice that one of the Suns' big defeats was joe Johnson's injury to the Mavericks in the Western Conference semifinals. And at that time, the Suns did not pay much attention to defense.
In the 06-07 season, the Suns won 61 and lost 21 in the regular season, and played a 17-game winning streak, as long as they were almost unbeaten in the East's away game, they played 2:2 with the best Record Mavericks at the time. Almost recognized as the league's best team: Nash made Stoudemire the league's first-team center and Barbosa the league's best sixth man. On the important defensive end, Bale became a member of the league's first defensive lineup, Cot Thomas also added the hardness of the interior, and Nash himself nearly won the regular season MVP for a little three straight — only to lose to his best friend Nowitzki. But in the Western Conference semifinals, after a huge controversy, they were killed by the Spurs again. In the fourth game of the Western Conference semifinals, the two sides fought 2-2, and at the end of the game, Robert Holly elbowed Nash, causing a riot on the court, Nash Xiaosi was furious, many players on both sides were banned, and the Suns lost the fifth and sixth games, so they also squandered Nash's championship opportunities.
The defeat became the trigger for the Suns' quest for change, and on the eve of the 2007 playoffs, Suns owner Savo declared that he would shuffle his cards without winning the championship, and after the defeat, he set out to take action, putting a columnist with no management experience on the job as the head of the team. God made a huge joke with Nash, Cole screwed up the Canadian's championship dream as a player, retired and transformed himself into a general manager, once again ruining Nash's team as general manager.
In early 2008 Cole orchestrated that magical blockbuster deal, swapping Marion for O'Neill. The essence of the deal is a 29-year-old player in exchange for a 35-year-old player, the best player for the Nash system in exchange for the player who is least fit for the Nash system, Kerr opened the ultimate gamble: "I know the current situation, I took over a team that won 60 games almost a year, in fact I had no way out, either to win the championship or to die. ”
After some tossing and turning, a sports car that excelled at speed was finally converted into a gentle tractor, and the Suns were deeply disgusted by such a change, Stoudemire publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the new tactics, while Nash remained silent, reducing his speed and adapting to the shooter role. O'Neill had to thank Nash for his inclusion. The Canadians never tried to team up with the Suns' veterans to "do away" the fat guy in the locker room, but did their best to embrace him.
Cole's reforms soon came to naught, and as the Suns' general manager, his only wise decision was to replace Porter with Ginterley. The first thing D'Antoni's former assistant did after taking office was to restart the run-and-bomb system, which is not a simple restoration of the German concept, And Gentry pays more attention to defense and does not simply seek speed in attack. Nash said, "A lot of people say that the sun is back and we're starting to run again, but as you can see, this is no longer the 7-second fast attack force of the year." Instead of eating on fast attacks, we played more halves, only to make more use of the high-speed conduction of the ball in positional warfare. ”
In 2010, Nash was still running tirelessly, beating the most important opponent of his life, stepping on the spurs' corpse for the first time to advance, but facing the Lakers, Nash and his Suns seemed somewhat powerless. The Battle of Tennosan, then called Artest's Ci Shiping, choked the Sun's throat with an inadvertently willow-sticking basket, which was both the climax of Nash's tragic fate and the concentrated embodiment of the gap in strength between the two teams. Gentry said: "We've had a better team in this series than we are and you have to compliment them. On the night of the elimination, Nash reminded himself to keep going: "Everyone knows I've never been to the Finals, and maybe never to. But as long as I can continue to play with my friends, I am satisfied. ”
That summer, Miami formed the Big Three, the Bulls invited Boozer, and there was speculation about whether Nash would defect to the hot team in order to chase the championship, and the Wind Son gave a negative answer. However, the harsh reality is that Nash is no longer a thigh, and the continuous impact on the championship has not been successful, leaving the Suns management disheartened, the inside core of the small Si changed the court, in the fiercely competitive West, Nash tried his best to win the playoff tickets for the team, in the 2010-11 season, Nash got his fifth and final assist king, in the spring of 2012 he attended his last All-Star at the age of 38, and then his marriage with Phoenix finally came to an end. People know that the sun is setting in the west.
When Henry left North London for Catalonia in 2007, no one was willing to blame him, and everyone knew that the football lover was only trying to pursue a championship trophy representing the highest honor in his twilight years. So, when the NATIONAL AIR Center put out the slogan "it's ok, nash, you can go", all you can feel is a rush of blessings, full of energy, filling your heart, and then stimulating your tear glands. The highest realm of love is like this, for the happiness of the other party, only to let go.
In the summer of 2012, Nash again made the important decision to break up peacefully with the Suns and switch to the Lakers in a first-and-later trade-off, and in return, Phoenix received two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and an 8 million trade exception. The deal clearly spells the future plans for the Suns and Nash: Savo is determined to rebuild, even if it doesn't look like the Suns are a terrible mess; nash, 38, wants to use the last days of his career to continue chasing his championship dreams. The Suns sent Nash to the team he most wanted to join, and the Windsko used himself as a chip to give the Suns a last assist.
Fate is sometimes so cruel, although the Lakers successfully recruited Howard on the basis of Nash's joining, once again built an F4 combination. However, injuries and age prevented their shine, Nash spared no effort to thread the needle, with little effect, and the Lakers' chemistry was unbearable.
In the 12-13 season, the Lakers only finished seventh in the West, and were eliminated in the first round, and Howard left decisively to join the Rockets.
In the 13-14 season, Nash returned with a back injury, playing only 15 games, averaging 6.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, shooting only 38.3% from the field. Bryant was reimbursed for the injury season, and the Lakers lost hope of advancing to the playoffs more than halfway through the season, and finally only got a dismal record of 27 wins and 55 losses. As the league's oldest player at the time, Nash seemed unlikely to be in the spotlight again, with media discussions about whether it might be a better deal to give him an amnesty, and the new jeremy Lin was more likely than he was to take on the starting position for the next season.
On October 25, 2014, Nash, one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, stopped his 18-year running to draw the final rest for a once-in-a-lifetime, intense movement. On March 22, 2015, Steve Nash officially announced his retirement.
On October 31, 2015, the Suns held a retirement ceremony for Steve Nash, who was awarded the "Ring of Honor", and on April 1, 2018, Steve Nash was inducted into the Nye Smith Basketball Hall of Fame. On September 3, 2020, Steve Nash became head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
All in all: Nash is one of the best and most ideal offensive players of all time, the perfect combination of attack and organization.