Steve posting career numbers

He’s in the midst of his sixth straight season engineering the NBA’s most prolific offense. He’s going to his fifth All-Star game and putting up the kind of numbers that make a third straight NBA Most Valuable Player award a realistic possibility. He has the Suns pointed toward a franchise record for wins and battling for the league’s best record.
Steve Nash thinks all of that is very nice. And he couldn’t care less.Nash turned 33 years old on Wednesday — young for almost every walk of life but his chosen profession. And since he returned for battle in September with a shaved head, a supremely toned physique and a one-track mind, Nash has made it clear to anyone listening that anything short of an NBA title — or exhausting every reserve in the pursuit — is unacceptable.As the Suns reeled off winning streaks of 15 and 17 games and one of the best 35-game runs in league history (33-2), a less kind, less gentle Nash muted his praise and took every opportunity to point out slippage and sloppiness around the edges.Some understood the message. Others saw him as “Steve the Buzz-Kill,” nit-picking home wins over losing teams that rarely produce supreme efforts.But his message stayed on point: Winning isn’t everything — at least not yet.“There is only one successful conclusion to this season,” he said. “If we play the best we can possibly play and still get beat — OK, it happens — but I think our best will get us where we want to go.

The time is now, and the opportunity to win a championship is in front of us if we accept the challenge to make it happen.“I don’t know if I’m less gentle or whatever, but I definitely feel an evolved focus. Winning division titles and MVPs and all that stuff is great, but it’s part of a journey, not the end. What wins games in December won’t win them in May. The focus has to be on the ultimate goal, and everyone has to commit to it.”Suns coach Mike D’Antoni understands the sense of urgency coming from his coach on the floor.“When you are a supreme talent, you are also realistic. You know when you think you have a chance to go all the way,” D’Antoni said. “Steve looks around, and he sees what we have around him, he sees the competition and he sees we’re a team that can win it. So now his job is to leave no stone unturned to make sure we get there.”The byproduct might be a third straight MVP. While still leading the league and setting a personal best for assists (almost 12 a night), Nash leads the team in scoring and, at the behest of D’Antoni, is shooting more often — while actually improving his percentage at the same time.Nash not only has a handful of game-winning or game-tying shots but at least as many “dagger jumpers” that thwart comeback attempts or put away opponents.“We had to push him toward that because it’s his nature to always make the best choice, whoever winds up with the points,” D’Antoni said. “But once we said that we thought it would make us better if he shot more, he was OK with it. He couldn’t argue with making the team better.”Nash disagrees that he’s “taking over” more games, saying that he’s still taking what the defense offers up. But he also has no problem with taking the big shots.“I don’t mind at all taking responsibility for a loss, but I do mind not giving myself and my team and chance to win,” he said. “Sometimes you have to put yourself on the line. I feel much better at night if people are pointing a finger at me for not getting the job done than if I’m pointing the finger at myself because I didn’t try to step up. That’s the stuff that eats at you.”Nash has made no secret of his pride for Amaré Stoudemire’s explosive return to the team, not only as an offensive force but for his attention to detail. Last year, as Stoudemire toyed with attempts at a quick return from microfracture knee surgery, Nash all but blocked out the comeback talks, viewing it as an unnecessary distraction to a team that needed to learn to win without him.“That was such a devastating injury for Amaré, so hard to overcome,” he said. “I really felt he was outside of our problems. He had such a long road ahead of him, I felt like we had bigger things to worry about.“This year, I’ve been extremely impressed and proud of Amaré. At his age, to really change his attitude and become a better teammate, a more willing defender, more accountable to the little things, that’s so impressive.”And while Shawn Marion’s All-Star talents and Leandro Barbosa’s improvement are keys, Nash sees Stoudemire as the X-factor, the key to unlock the path to the NBA Finals — where he has never been — and a championship the Suns have never achieved.“We scored as much or more without him last year, and with the players around him he’s going to have a chance to dominate most nights,” Nash said. “But his willingness to buy into the team concept, to be that inside defensive presence and fit into what was here has been inspiring to me. I think everyone on the team feels the same way.”Nash feels he is playing the best basketball of his career, and that he’s still improving. He can see himself playing another five years at this level. But the financial realities, luxury-tax issues on the horizon and no clear-cut dynasty ruling the league all combine to step up the urgency.“The time is now, the opportunity is in front of us,” he said. “I don’t sense there is a window closing, and I don’t sense that I’m running out of time. But I sense a chance to win a championship. The question is, what do we do with it?”