Steve Nash Internet Day

by Steve Perrin on Dec 9, 2009 1:32 PM PST in News

In honor of Steve Nash Internet Day, I thought I'd relate this little story.

I first saw Steve Nash play basketball when he was a 19 year old freshman at Santa Clara University, during the WCC tournament in March of 1993. The tournament was held in San Francisco that year, and my dad and I flew up to watch our beloved Pepperdine Waves compete. This was before Gonzaga had become a perennial power, and at the time Pepperdine was the dominant team in the conference. It was also long before the WCC tournament moved to Las Vegas and the games that year were played on the USF campus, in the cracker box known as War Memorial Gym. The only thing we were worried about was the home court advantage for USF.

In the semi-finals, Pepperdine played Santa Clara. Nash didn't start for the Broncos his freshman year and I had no idea who he was. The Waves were in control of the game early when some skinny Canadian kid with a bad haircut checked in. He completely took over. Pepperdine had gone undefeated in the WCC during the regular season, but this game was no contest. Nash did whatever he wanted - got layups for his teammates, made every shot he took. At first I thought it must have been a complete fluke. How could this guy possibly be that good? If he was, why wasn't he starting? Why wasn't he a big time NBA prospect? Little did I know. The Broncos of course went on to win the tournament and less than a week later became one of the only 15 seeds in history to beat a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament when Nash led them to an upset of Arizona.

I wish I could say that I knew the minute I saw him play as a 19 year old that he was one day going to be an NBA MVP. I can't say that - nobody could have suspected that. But I knew he was special.

Almost 17 years later, Steve Nash is still breaking my heart. In his first game of the season, just when I was beginning to think that perhaps time had caught up to him, he followed up a 3 for 9 performance in the first three quarters with a 15 point fourth in which he didn't miss a shot and scored the game winner against the Clippers.

Happy Steve Nash Internet Day anyway.

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Fantastic story.

by Vic De Zen on Dec 9, 2009 1:37 PM PST reply actions

LOL

by sqrebck on Dec 9, 2009 2:34 PM PST reply actions

why did cuban get rid of nash?

"Every man dies, not every man really lives."

by kingjames10 on Dec 9, 2009 3:31 PM PST reply actions

Free agency

The Suns paid him a lot of money and Cuban elected not to match the offer. Made sense at the time, Nash was then a 30yr old point guard and the Suns offered him 6 years for $63 million (the Mavs offered 4 years for $36 million so it wasn’t even close). The likelihood that Nash would be worth that kind of money towards the end of that contract were slim. The Mavs were a good team at the time but the knock on them was their defense (people used to call them Allas for a reason) so they figured getting a more defensive minded PG would work out better. It almost did as they made the Finals a couple of years later with Jason Terry and Devis Harris as their point guards.

FA in 2010.

by ClipperChuck on Dec 9, 2009 3:38 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

I LOVE STEVE NASH

by turs12 on Dec 10, 2009 12:24 AM PST reply actions

Big Steve Nash fan

But that home opener was just hard to watch. Nash completely obliterated our team in the 4th quarter, taking the game into his own hands.

Launched www.TheClippersNation.com last week (Steve if this sig breaks any rules, please tell me and I'll replace it!), finally followed through my dream of owning a Clippers blog. My friend will be posting live pictures from every home game! (Oh and Steve I put Clipsnation in the "Links" tab on the front page)

by TheCalmInsanity on Dec 10, 2009 8:13 AM PST reply actions

that's why i say soccer players are the best athletes in the world!

Roger Sterling: To my knees, Don. They're bringing to my knees!"

by Lawler's Law on Dec 10, 2009 10:17 AM PST reply actions

I say boxing

they may not shoot as well in basketball, or throw as well in football, but boxing atheletes are probably the fittest atheletes I’ve seen. They may not seem like it, I mean, lasting 12 or 15 rounds for only 3 mins, but remember thats ALOT of moving. I don’t think an NBA player would last a full day on a strict REAL boxing work out.

by JackduhSun on Dec 10, 2009 10:36 AM PST up reply actions

I’d add MMA too since they also have crazy training regimens. For boxing, it’s not just the moving that tires you out, it’s throwing punches and getting punched that saps out energy.

by Polish Rifle on Dec 10, 2009 11:09 AM PST up reply actions

+1

by baron davis' beard on Dec 10, 2009 11:45 AM PST up reply actions

to the soccer one that is

by baron davis' beard on Dec 10, 2009 11:45 AM PST up reply actions

Nah

Football (or soccer as you guys so aptly americanized it) does require a lot of running but there’s a lot of rest in between. It also primarily 90% legwork and some upper body work (heading the ball, chest trapping). Basketball requires remarkable eye hand coordination in addition to excellent footwork. Guys like Wade and Kobe could probably be elite soccer players had they played (actually Kobe is suppose to be pretty good)

FA in 2010.

by ClipperChuck on Dec 10, 2009 11:53 AM PST up reply actions

I think his point is

in basketball, you can have some fat guy like Shaq who is not much athletic at all and become a hall of famer. Granted Shaq is somewhat athletic, a better example might be somebody like Pryzabilla for example. The same thing can be said about nfl where you have a bunch of fat azz playing the D- or O-line.

Compare that to soccer, where you have to be athletic, or else you would’ve tore your ACL the first time somebody jerk you from behind while you’re trying to protect the football. Even if you see a fat guy on the field you will quickly realize how athletic he is (Maradona comes to mind).

As for boxing and MMA, those are sports are about not falling awkardly, or not getting injured, whereas for soccer you’re concentrating on the ball while not getting hurt.

by RockyMountain on Dec 12, 2009 11:18 AM PST up reply actions

Are you kidding me?

Boxing is a WAY more dangerous sport than soccer. The full intent is to beat the other guy, and the only way to do so is by beating him. So while your getting punched in the face, you still have to do a right/ left guard and still protect your abs/ ribs.

In response to soccer concentrating on the ball and not getting hurt, try concentrating how to break out from under the ropes while someone is smashing at your face and body. It’s not too easy when your trapped. The intent to hurt you is already there. And then theres the fact that your exhausted after 4-5 rounds and when you get knocked down, picking yourself up is hard. I mean hard. I’ve been there and its NOT fun. Your usually just trying to find anything in yourself to last the round.

And then you have to remember, sure soccer players use alot of footwork, and I’ll be honest, I’ve never watched a round of soccer in my life. Boxing is also about moving around, consistantly for 3 minutes, while throwing constant jabs (seems so much easier to kicking the ball hard once) and blocks.

by JackduhSun on Dec 12, 2009 11:34 AM PST up reply actions