Steve Nash Named MVP

For the first time in as long as I can remember a basketball headline made it to both the front page of the paper and the sports front page here in Calgary and most of Canada. Steve Nash being declared MVP of the NBA during the 2004-2005 season was an amazing feat for many reasons. He joins Hakeem Olajuwon from Nigeria as the only international players to ever win the MVP crown. He also joins the likes of Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Allen Iverson as the only guards to ever win an MVP title. Not only that but he is also only the fourth player in NBA history to win the MVP award while leading the league in assists.

Nash posted the NBA’s highest assist average (11.5) in the last decade, the most since Stockton averaged 12.3 assists in 1994-95. Since 1990-91, only Stockton (six times), Johnson (once) and Mark Jackson (once) have averaged 11-plus assists in a season. Three times this season Nash recorded a double-digit assist streak of 11 games or more, including a franchise-best 14-game streak from March 6-April 3. He notched double figures in assists in 59 of 75 games played in the regular season, including 32 of his last 35 games. #

The MVP was very casual and his humble self at the awards ceremony where he asked the rest of his team to come up to the platform and give credit to them as well. The amount of coverage on his accomplishment in Canada was huge, both TSN and The Score; Canada’s two top sports stations had hours of coverage on the story.

The Suns made a remarkable turnaround from last season when the club finished with a disappointing 29-53 (.354) record, the third-worst in franchise history. Their 33-game improvement this season (62-20, .756) ranks as the third greatest turnaround in NBA history behind the Spurs of 1989-90 and 1997-98.

Nash guided the Suns to a league-best 110.4 points per game, up 16.2 points from last season’s 94.2 scoring average. It ranked as the largest increase in team scoring from one season to the next since the advent of the shot clock (1954-55). The previous largest increase was 15.3 points by the Philadelphia Warriors from 1958-59 (103.3) to 1959-60 (118.6) and was due to the presence of rookie Wilt Chamberlain. #

My 2 Cents

Shaquille O’Neal was good this year but I think Steve Nash definitely deserved the award. He led his team to the best record in the NBA and put up unbelievable numbers throughout the 82 games. I just want to say congratulations to Steve Nash for a remarkable season, and representing Canadian basketball on the international stage.