Nash leads MVP race by a hair!

If Dirk Nowitzki doesn’t win his first MVP award, he can’t blame his best friend for stealing it.Nowitzki tossed the reward up for grabs in Phoenix’s double-overtime win over Dallas Wednesday, and Steve Nash simply did what Steve Nash does — whatever it takes to get the job done:• Goad Josh Howard into a silly 3-point foul to give his all-but-dead team one last life? Check.• Hit the stone cold 3-pointer to force overtime? Check.• Turn a turnover inside out by hustling to his feet and racing over to take a charge? Check.• Cheat the Mavs out of a game-tying set play late in the second overtime by (1) stealing the ball, (2) throwing it off Jason Terry and (3) contorting his body so it didn’t hit him out of bounds? Check. Check. Check.Then there are the things Nash didn’t do (and here’s where Dirk might want to take notes) — things that separate superstars from MVPs:• Brick a game-clinching free throw? Nope.• Run out of gas in the first overtime? Nope.• Whine himself to a technical foul that hurt his team in the second overtime? Nope.Nothing is decided yet. The MVP is still a horse race. But Nash’s timing for stating his case couldn’t have been better.Quick hitters• OK, so maybe I should have put more thought into that George Washington reaching the Sweet 16 brainstorm. Vanderbilt just went on another scoring run.• Does every Suns miracle comeback include a must-have offensive rebound that only Shawn Marion can snatch? Apparently so.• Can the Suns catch Dallas? The schedule isn’t friendly. Phoenix has one game left against the East — and it’s, uh oh, Detroit tonight. Meanwhile, the Mavs get Danny Ainge’s Boston Romper Room twice and play the next six straight against the junior varsity.• ESPN Classic will replay the Suns-Mavs epic today at 1 p.m. and NBA-TV will do the same Saturday at 1 p.m. Not sure if either replay will include Dallas owner/conspiracy theorist Mark Cuban slapping away a cameraman after the game. • With the Lakers sinking like a stone in the West, the Suns could be looking at them — again — in the first round of the playoffs. The Phoenix training staff is already stocking up on mouth guards and elbow repellent.• Meanwhile, the Jazz have blown a few sour notes, leaving San Antonio in the driver’s seat for the No. 3 seed in the West.• The Suns started Wednesday’s game hoping Boris Diaw could guard Dirk Nowitzki. By the end of the night, the question was whether Diaw could guard anyone. How many of the Mavericks’ 27 offensive rebounds came at the expense of Diaw, who didn’t grab a single board in 20 minutes?• Tough off-season for the Bears. Tank Johnson is in jail, Lance Briggs feels like he was in jail and Thomas Jones has been paroled. Start the 22-year countdown to Chicago’s next appearance in Super Bowl LXVI.