page_title: Steve Nash
section_title: Return to Phoenix (2004–2012)
hierarchical_section_title: Steve Nash / Professional career / Return to Phoenix (2004–2012)
caption_attribution_description: Steve Nash
context_page_description: Stephen John Nash OC OBC is a Canadian former professional basketball player who played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association. He was an eight-time NBA All-Star and a seven-time All-NBA selection. Twice, Nash was named the NBA Most Valuable Player while playing for the Phoenix Suns. He currently serves as senior advisor of the Canadian men's national team and as a player development consultant for the Golden State Warriors.
  After a successful high school basketball career in British Columbia, Nash earned a scholarship to Santa Clara University in California. In his four seasons with the Broncos, the team made three NCAA Tournament appearances, and he was twice named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year. Nash graduated from Santa Clara as the team's all-time leader in assists and was taken as the 15th pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns. He made minimal impact and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998. By his fourth season with the Mavericks, he was voted to his first NBA All-Star Game and had earned his first All-NBA selection.
context_section_description: Nash joined a Suns team which had emerging young players in Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, and Amar'e Stoudemire. In the season before Nash arrived, the Suns had recorded a 29–53 win–loss record, and they were projected to have another poor season. Head coach Mike D'Antoni favoured an up-tempo style of basketball; this required smaller and more athletic players with the capability to outrun and outshoot their opponents. On 21 November 2004, Nash recorded 22 points, 18 assists and 4 steals in a 122–111 win over the LA Clippers. Nash's familiarity with this style combined with the athleticism of his teammates produced an NBA-best 62–20 record and a points-per-game average of 110.4, the highest in a decade. The catalyst of this turnaround, Nash averaged 11.5 assists per game while making 50.2% of his field goals and 43.1% of his three-pointers in the regular season. He edged Shaquille O'Neal to win the 2004–05 NBA MVP award, becoming the first Canadian to earn the honour, as well as the third point guard ever to be named MVP, along with Magic Johnson and Bob Cousy. In the 2005 playoffs, Phoenix swept the Memphis Grizzlies in four games before meeting the Dallas Mavericks in the second round. Nash led the Suns to a 4–2 series win, and the Suns reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1993, but lost to the eventual NBA Champions and arch-rival, the San Antonio Spurs, in five games.
  In the next season, Stoudemire suffered a serious knee injury, and Johnson and Quentin Richardson were traded away. The Suns were not expected to repeat their successful 2005 season, but with Nash directing the same high-tempo offence, the team compiled a respectable 54–28 record and won the division title. On 2 January 2006, Nash recorded 28 points, 5 rebounds and 22 assists in a 140–133 triple overtime loss to the New York Knicks. The Suns were again the highest-scoring team in the league with seven players averaging double figures in points per game, and Nash was voted for the first time to start for the 2006 Western All-Star team. In the last game of the season, Nash recorded a triple-double of 16 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in a 106-96 road win to the Trailblazers.
  Having recorded career highs in points (18.8), rebounds (4.2), field goal percentage (.512) and free throw percentage (a league-leading .921), and leading the league with 10.5 assists per game, Nash was named the league MVP for the second year in a row. In the first round of the 2006 playoffs, Phoenix overcame a 3–1 deficit against the Los Angeles Lakers and won the series 4–3. The Los Angeles Clippers were their Conference Semifinals opponents, and the Suns again needed seven games to clinch the series. For the second year in a row, however, the Suns bowed out in the Conference Finals, this time to Nash's former team, Dallas.
  In the 2006–07 season, Nash had another stellar campaign, averaging 18.6 points and a career-high 11.6 assists per game while becoming the first person since Magic Johnson in 1990–91 to average 18 points and 11 assists per game during the regular season. Nash received the most votes for first-team All-NBA and was joined by teammate Stoudemire; the two were the first teammates to make the first team since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in 2003–04. Nash received 129 first-place votes and 645 total points from the panel of 129 media members. He narrowly missed being MVP a third consecutive time, coming in second with 44 first place votes to 83 for Dirk Nowitzki. In the 2007 playoffs, the Suns eliminated the Lakers in five games before losing 4–2 to the Spurs in the Conference Semifinals.
  Nash played in 81 regular season games during the 2007–08 season; in this campaign, the Western Conference was especially competitive and he led the Suns to 55 wins and the sixth seed for the 2008 playoffs. Although there was a dip in his regular season output, Nash's shooting remained sharp; the accuracy of his shooting was on par with his 2005–06 MVP campaign (shooting at least 50% from the field, 40% from the three-point arc, and 90% from the free th
caption: After Nash's return to Phoenix in 2004, they won 33 more games than they did the previous season.
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