Last night, the soon-to-be named MVP Dirk Nowitzki and his 67-win Dallas Mavericks choked up a 3-1 first round series lead to the not-even-supposed-to-be-here-today Golden State Warriors. This was quite a contrast to what had happened just a few hours earlier, when Steve Nash once again proved why he's the reigning MVP.
The Lakers won Game 3 of their series against the Suns for a variety of reasons, the primary one of which was that they used a series of aggressive traps and double-teams to keep the ball out of Nash's hands. But instead of blaming the refs, a lack of effort (by his teammates), a dearth of talent (in his teammates), or his teammates' inability to hit shots, Nash took the onus on himself...promising to keep the ball, split those traps, and make things happen for his team.
What "happened" was 17 points and a career-high 23 assists in a 113-100 smackdown of the Lakers. Those 23 assists, by the way, were one shy of tying the all-time playoff record co-held by Magic Johnson and John Stockton, the two greatest point guards of all time. They also came in a contest in which Nash outdueled the supposed "best player" in the league, Kobe Bryant.
What I love about what Nash is doing is his swagger and killer instinct. While his buddy Dirk was putting on the ten-fingered necklace he loves to wear in big games, Nash continued to attack the opposing team and his critics. And those who like to point at his talented cast of teammates should review Games 3 and 4 and watch what happened when Nash came out of the game. His value to his team, and in the league, should be unquestioned.
Like Bob Cousy and Magic Johnson before him, Nash is proving (or re-proving) that you can dominate the game of basketball without scoring 50 points. It's as beautiful and fun to watch as anything you'll ever see. Kobe fans like to make the claim that Bryant's efforts go unappreciated because of his sketchy past. But Nash's efforts often go unappreciated by the casual fan because he's short, white, unathletic, and probably will never go for 50 (although he'll probably dish for it). The fact is, this guy's the best player in the league right now five minutes ago (see below).
It's official: Baron Davis is the best player in the NBA. Although I really wish this movement had started after the Warriors completed their upset of the Mavericks, because if Dallas comes back all of this talk will be forgotten in less time than it'll take Baron to get injured next season.
Labels: Bob Cousy, Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, fake Magic Johnson, Golden State Warriors, John Stockton, Kobe Bryant, Los Angels Lakers, NBA playoffs, Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash
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But in terms of conditioning, body control, hand-eye coordination, and a million other factors that make someone a great athlete but don't make clips on SportsCenter, Nash is as athletic as they come.
He has 2 MVP's and he is unappreciated?
he's nowhere near magic's caliber and Kobe's still the best player in basketball.
First, I don't consider Oscar a true point guard. He played more like a shooting guard that controlled the ball most of the time. Indeed, if you watch old game footage, he did not exclusively bring the ball up the court, which in my mind is the duty of a point guard. Of course, back then, they simply didn't have that designation. You were a guard period. But if Oscar played today, he'd be a 2-guard.
2. The Cooz revolutionized the position. One might even say he defined it. But my one beef with Cousy was his horrific shooting. He never shot as high as 40 percent in a single season. He was in the 30s for his entire career. I know it was a different era, and shooting percentages were lower back then, but 30 wasn't great even for the 50s and 60s. That's why I'd put him behind a Stockton, who was a career 51 percent shooter. Stockton could do anything Cousy did, played tough-as-nails defense, and was more efficient for a longer period of time.
since these people are not bad shooters why does kobe barley get any assists... the awnser is that he DOES NOT PASS. also the people on the suns roster, like raja bell amare marion rose barbosa etc are not averaging much higher fg % so this must simply be a fact of kobe not passing to his players. and from dirks current preformances there is no way he should be mvp, nash is like i said earlier hands down... or up mvp of the nba
Would you say that mvp should be for the person you most want going into the postseason? Because it seems to me it should reward the person who actually did the most for his team in the regular season. (Ideally you'd have both, but if they're not the same person then you have to pick one.) I assume you think Nash did that during the season anyway--and you've got a plausible case--but I'm more pushing on the playoff question. Since you never know how someone is going to perform in the playoffs (and last year Dirk was the hero until Wade turned into superman), should your expectation of their playoff performance affect the mvp?
In any event, I think it's clear that if Dallas loses this series (unless they lose in game 7, and Dirk goes for 50/18 in each of the last three), that Dirk will never win another mvp unless/until he has a championship.
But I still say he was this year's regular-season mvp, as embarrassing as it is for him to go down the way he appears to be doing right now. He’s embarrassing the award (although his defense and rebounding have been quite good), but I still think he deserves it.