Green: It’s time for the Suns to sit Steve Nash
Mar 17, 2011, 2:52 PM | Updated: 3:42 pm
It’s time for the Suns to sit Steve Nash.
At 33-33, three full games out of the playoffs and losers
of four straight, the Phoenix Suns find their season
teetering on the brink. Nash, who returned from a two-game
absence to join his team just in time for a loss to the
Hornets, is battling an injury I don’t want to acknowledge
(I’m a guy, it hurts just to think about it) and really
struggling on the court.
26 points, 9 assists; 20 points, 11 assists; 32 points, 4
assists; 32 points, 11 assists; 16 points, 4 assists; 16
points, 15 assists; 13 points, 18 assists; 7 points, 5
assists; 0 points, 7 assists; 10 points, 2 assists.
A 10-game stretch that averages out to 17.2 points and 8.6
assists per game. Not bad. Not Nash.
Those numbers belong to Chris Paul, Ty Lawson, Kyle Lowry,
Russell Westbrook, Brandon Jennings, Rajon Rondo, Deron
Williams, Darren Collison, Jose Calderon and Jeff Teague,
the starting point guards against the Suns for every game
Nash has played in since the All-Star break.
Since the break the 37-year-old Nash has averaged just 9.1
points per game on 37 percent shooting, making less than
17 percent of his threes while turning the ball over
nearly four times per game. Sure, he’s handing out 11.4
assists per game over that same stretch, but the former
MVP’s effectiveness has been all but nullified by his
health. Never known for his defense, Nash’s ability to
make sure his team made shots outweighed his inability to
prevent it from happening on the defensive end. Injured,
that’s just not the case, and as someone who has seen Nash
at his best, it is a little difficult watching him struggle
on a nightly basis.
