Steve Nash is a Point Gua'd

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Boston. Celtics. Bob Cousy.

No one else in the history of the Association compares to Steve Nash in ball handling skills. His dribbling displays are the moments that make legends out of ball players. Cousy's most famous moment - dribbling out the clock and avoiding the foul in the closing seconds of a Finals win. That's a legendary ball handler. Nash may never have been in the Finals as of yet, but that in no way diminishes the brilliance of his handle.

New Orleans/Utah. Jazz. Pistol Pete Maravich.

His passing ability more than equals his dribbling skills. Soccer didn't teach him how to use his hands, so it would seem that Steve has an inate sense of what the ball has to do in order to reach it's target. How does he get away with it? In Nash's case, it is all sleight of hand. The ball spins wildly in his palm, his hips constantly shifting position. He's ambidextrous, so he switches to his left hand. The ball hesitates at his soft touch, and then it rockets past the defender, changing direction on the bounce just enough to hit his cutter at the numbers. Watching a Suns game with Nash is like having a video of infinitely varying passes playing on a perpetual loop.

I've always known that Nash was special, and I was sad to see him leave for Dallas. His poor start there only made matters worse, and I knew those gutless fans would rue the days they ever booed him. Steve has always had mad skills. It was just a matter of time.

But I learned something new about Steve Nash on Sunday, May 6, 2007. I watched that game on the biggest screen I have ever seen in a house, and I saw some amazing things in that gut wrenching game one loss. Steve Nash is old school in a bad ass way. He pulled a move that I've only seen one player do in a big playoff game, I believe against the Lakers.

Detroit. Pistons. Isiah Thomas.

I try to forget Isiah the coach and General Manager. I do my best to remember Isiah the baller. I have help from NBA Classic and the series of NBA Finals classic games/guards/dunkers/etc. Sunday afternoon, I got an old school highlight move by Steve Nash.

Isiah was a bull dog. He had a low, quick crossover that could break a cat's ankles. His movements were so tight that it seemed he would explode at any moment. A couple of crossovers and juke steps, and he blew by Byron Scott or whoever was guarding him. It wasn't just the quickness. It was that toughness he brought to the move that made it his own. He hunched over, lowered his shoulders, and dared the defender to come at him. That has to be a new level of intimidating, going against a player that believes in his talent more than he believes in God himself.

I saw that in Steve on Sunday. Despite the loss, he doggedly kept his team in that game. He had an Isiah-like game with 31 points and 8 assists. He carried the Suns to the last minute of that game.

I watched that game on Sunday, and never once did I forget that this was no ordinary game. This was Steve Nash in Classic NBA mode, bringing the wine and blood to the same party. I can't help but think that, if that game had occurred 20 years ago, would Nash have been in that game for the last minute, blood dripping on the floor and eyes burning from adhesive fumes?

And the question after the game was, did it matter that Nash wasn't allowed to play with a bloody nose? A lot of people say no. A lot of people are incredibly ignorant, too. Coincidence?

Of course it mattered. We are talking about a player, bloody and sweaty with an angry sneer on his brow, waiting to come in and take over that game. Would he have won it for the Suns? No one can say for sure. But could he have? Hell, yes.

Nash is a two time League Most Valuable Player. He didn't get those awards on accident. He got them from the very people who are now questioning the Suns' ability to get it done in the playoffs. He got those awards from the same people who are now saying, "It wouldn't have mattered."

Steve Nash is old school. Steve Nash is 13 players from the 70s and 80s rolled into one skinny white tough little package.

Sure, the Suns lost game one. But I didn't see that game. I saw an historic event as Steve Nash played like a three-time League Most Valuable Player.

Larry Bird.

We're watching history.