There was a time when the Phoenix Suns won a couple of key battles, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the NBA playoffs in 2006 and 2007. Those series defeats fueled Kobe Bryant and stoked a vicious rivalry.
Bryant and the Lakers eventually won the war — aka NBA titles — while Steve Nash got nothing. Now Nash is conceding, and he and Bryant are joining forces. That’s what NBA stars do these days. While it will help re-establish the pecking order at Staples Center that was disrupted by Chris Paul last season, the only thing that really matters is whether it will be enough to win a championship.
The chances are better than with Steve Blake or Ramon Sessions starting at the point. Both were capable last season, but neither was big enough to handle the grand stage of the NBA playoffs. Nash, who averaged 12.5 points and 10.7 assists last season, has been aching for a return to that kind of prominence. He will embrace every minute that his 38-year-old body can handle.
He also will lessen the load on the equally fast-aging Bryant, as long as Bryant — whose .430 field goal percentage last year was his worst since his second NBA season — is willing. One of the best point guards in NBA history, Nash makes every one of the Lakers’ starters better and even some of Los Angeles’ thin bench, especially in the regular season.
What happens in the playoffs, especially when the Lakers find themselves matched up with Oklahoma City, could be more dicey, sort of like Metta World Peace’s tweets or Andrew Bynum’s behavior. Bynum’s resistance to maturity may be the biggest obstacle to Bryant’s sixth ring.
Speaking of obstacles, Nash also isn’t seen as a defender who can keep Russell Westbrook from getting into the lane. But name a team that doesn’t have that problem.
That also doesn’t need to be remedied until next spring. A full-length NBA season with Nash and Bryant together, if they can handle the miles, inspires nearly Miami Heat-level intrigue and entertainment as a distraction. However, only if Dwight Howard heads to Hollywood in Nash’s wake will the expectations then shift from South Beach to Manhattan Beach.
– Craig Stouffer
