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Nash Named Player of the Week

Where would the Suns be without Amare Studomire? The answer is 22-11. Where would Phoenix be without Steve Nash? Now that?s a whole new story all together, which Suns fans don?t even dare to contemplate. By now, those who raised an eyebrow last season when Nash won the MVP award have received all the proof they need. Nash is one of the leading candidates to win the award this season as well.

This week, the league named Nash as the Western Conference player of the week for the week that lasted from January 2-8. This is his fifth career NBA Player of the Week honor, second this season and fourth as a Sun for Nash, who also won the weekly award on Nov. 28, 2005, Feb. 14, 2005, Dec. 27, 2004 and Dec. 16, 2001 as a member of the Dallas Mavericks. Nash guided the team to a 3-1 record last week and averaged a league-high 14.3 assists to go along with his 21.3 points on 53.3 percent shooting.

Nash concluded a five-game, eight-day road trip at New York on January 2nd and responded with 28 points and a career-high 22 assists in a career-high 55 minutes in a 140-133 triple-overtime loss. The 22 assists were the most assists in the NBA since former Cavs guard Andre Miller had 22 vs. Philadelphia on Dec. 15, 2001 and were the second-highest total in franchise history, trailing only Kevin Johnson`s club record 25 vs. San Antonio on April 6, 1994.