May 3, 2010; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns forward (1) Amare Stoudemire celebrates a shot with guard (13) Steve Nash against the San Antonio Spurs in game one in the western conference semifinals of the 2010 NBA playoffs at the US Airways Center. The Suns defeated the Spurs 111-102. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

With the free agency period drawing nearer and nearer, one of the most highly-coveted guards on the market, Steve Nash, is weighing his multitude of options, one of which are the New York Knicks.

Nash, 38, is a sure-fire, first-ballot Hall-of-Fame point guard. A member of the impossible to join 50-40-90 club, the Canadian waiter has shot over 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and 90 percent from the free throw line four times in five years in his career with the Phoenix Suns, flirting around with those same percentages every year of his career.

Just for some perspective, the only other players to reach that milestone in NBA History are Larry Bird (2), Mark Price (1), Reggie Miller (1) and Dirk Nowitzki (1) with Nash reaching it the most times.

But unlike Nowitzki and Bird, Nash has yet to attain an NBA Championship, let alone the NBA Finals. The closest he’s been to grandest stage is the Western Conference Finals, where the Suns have fallen to Kobe Bryant the Lakers twice (2010 and 2005).

Now that he’s closing in on the end of his career, Nash wants that very thing that separates the greats from the immortal, and many believe that he can achieve that very goal playing alongside Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler with the New York Knicks.

Steve Nash and the Knicks are popping up in every magazine.

Apr 14, 2012; San Antonio, TX, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash (13) shoots during the first half against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT

He told SLAM Online:  ”I would consider the Knicks. Amar’e actually called me to tell me about his engagement a couple weeks back, and we talked a bit about how nice it’d be to play together again.”

If there’s any reason why Nash wouldn’t sign with the Knicks, it’s monetary. New York can only offer him the mid-level exception of $5 million, and Phoenix could offer him much more, if not match last year’s contract of $10 million. In addition, Nash was close friends with coach Mike D’Antoni who was, justifiably, forced out of New York.

ESPN New York’s Mark Mazzeo reported:

Nash said he worries about the possibility of taking less money to play for a team he believes is a contender, only for one of its top players to be injured — or worse, for him to be traded.

“I have to be really careful and make a sound decision,” Nash said.

Yet in the same interview, Nash told Mazzeo:

“I wouldn’t have any fear of the fans maybe having a love affair with Jeremy [Lin]. … I think it’s great. … That doesn’t really bother me.”

The bottom line?

No one knows whether he will or won’t sign with the Knicks at the mid-level exception, but he’d revitalize Stoudemire for sure.

STAT looked like his old, All-Star self running the pick-and-roll with Jeremy Lin before they both went down with injuries, and Nash is arguably the best pick-and-roll guard in the NBA. They ran it 100 times/game in Phoenix under D’Antoni and it would re-spark a flame that was put out when Stoudemire left for New York.

Throw in an athletic defender in Tyson Chandler, who ran his own pick-and-roll game back in Charlotte with the Hornets, and you’ve got a starting five that can put up 80 points every night. Include Iman Shumpert off the bench, who’s looking at a six to eight month timetable for his return to the court after a torn ACL (smack in the middle of the season), Jeremy Lin and  Steve Novak, whose Bird Rights the Knicks recovered after the arbitrator ruled in their favor, with Jared Jeffries and you’ve got a solid eight-man rotation to wreak havoc amongst the league.

Jan. 7 2011; Phoenix, AZ, USA; New York Knicks forward Amar

Would they be able to compete with the HEAT? I don’t know.

But one thing’s for sure. They wouldn’t meet them in the first round ever again, and Nash surely wouldn’t allow them to get swept.

The other teams that are “in the race” to land Nash, according to SportsNet’s Eric Smith, are the Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns, but championship odds with the Knicks are much greater.

But at the end of it all, Steve Nash knows what he wants.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay, Nash said:

“I’m open to every team that has interest in me. … I have to weigh it up with family, salary, environment, opportunity to win—all these different factors that are in a big pot, and figure out what’s best.”

“Maybe it will be Phoenix or another team that’s kind of a project. Or maybe it’s a team that’s on the cusp.”

“I’m completely open to it. … In some ways, it’d be great to play for the Knicks. I don’t want to, you know, set off any alarm bells right now, but it’d be a great opportunity. It’s a franchise I’d love to play for. It’s a city I love, obviously, living here the last 10 summers…I would definitely consider it, if they had interest in me.”

The interest is there, Steve. Now the ball’s in your court.

Amar'e Stoudemire and the New York Knicks were too much for LaMarcus Aldridge and the rest of the Portland Trail Blazers. Photo courtesy of the AP.

I bet more than a few people expected this. Portland stands tall against Miami, only to fall to a barrage of scoring from LeBron James in the closing period and overtime Sunday night, then are basically unable to show up in their next outing, and are beaten handily by the Knicks. In a perfect world, a gut-wrenching loss is followed by an energy-renewing win. In the NBA, it usually doesn’t happen. This isn’t a momentum-killer, or a season-ender, but it’s a tough one, there’s no doubt about that.

Give a ton of credit to the Knicks. In fact, give all the credit to the Knicks. They executed a game plan that included double-teaming LaMarcus Aldridge on defense, cutting off the ball on offense, and a large dose of crashing the boards and getting out in the fast break. Knicks head coach, former Portland assistant Mike D’Antoni, became famous for his “Seven seconds or less,” offensive philosophy. This Knicks team is not that Phoenix Suns team, but Raymond Felton, Landry Fields, Amr’e Stoudemire, and especially Wilson Chandler can run when they get the chance. Portland wasn’t quite run out of the Rose Garden Tuesday night, but the disparity in fast break points, 12 for New York and only four for Portland, was one of the games deciding factors.

A second decider on Tuesday was points in the paint. The Knicks finished the evening with 50; Portland with 40. With a guy like Amar’e you expect a lot of inside looks, but Tuesday many of New York’s layups came on dive cuts to the basket with Stoudemire standing at the top of the key. In the last few seasons, Amar’e has worked hard on his outside J. His game is still primarily about going strong to the rack, but if you don’t respect his jumper you can find yourself in hot water in not time at all. Tuesday I would say that Portland over respected Stoudemire’s jumper, meaning that often it was two or three Blazers flashing out to get a hand in Amar’e's face when he looked to shoot. Although the hustle is commendable, here’s what isn’t: leaving a man wide open under the hoop. Stoudemire is no slouch on the pass off, and at least three or four times he was able to find an open cutter under the basket. Portland’s help-side defense needs to be smarter. Blocked shots are nice, and hurrying a shooter like Amar’e is just what you need to do to throw him off his rhythm. That being said, guys like Fields, Chandler, and Ronny Turiaf probably don’t miss very often when they are unguarded under the rim.

Turnovers and assists where the final thing that killed Portland Tuesday night. The Blazers didn’t handle the ball well, turning it over 14 times, and hardly passed at all, dishing out only eight assists as a team. Part of the reason Portland’s assist numbers were so low was because they shot only 35% from the field, but also the Blazers simply played too much one-on-one. Too much standing around, not enough movement from anyone. The news has spread league-wide that LA is coming to play now that Brandon Roy is on the shelf. He needs to pass out of the double team in a more effective manner, and part of that falls on the shoulders of his teammates to make strong, smart cuts to get open. Once they’re open, they need to knock down shots. It sounds easy because it is easy. Hitting open shots can effectively kill the double-team as a defensive option. Tonight Portland’s shooters didn’t do all that much. Wesley Matthews, 2-of-13; Nicolas Batum, 5-of-13, Patty Mills, 3-of-9; Rudy Fernandez 4-of-10; and Dante Cunningham 0-of-3. Rudy finished with a respectable 18 points off the bench, but seven of those points came from the free throw line.

On the opposite side of the ball, the Knicks turnover-to-assist ratio may have been what put them over the top. Ray Felton alone had 14 assists and zero turnovers. New York was moving the ball, and often after two or three passes led to a guy wide open. This meant both uncontested layups and open threes. The Knicks didn’t shoot too many threes, making five of 12 attempts, but were able to kill more than one Portland run with a deep ball.

Post game, head coach Nate McMillan kept his remarks short, and the locker room was as dead as I’ve ever seen it. There isn’t much to say when you get out played as thoroughly as Portland did Tuesday night. It’s easy to write this one off as residual fall-out from Sunday’s heart-breaker, and you know what, go right ahead and do that. The Blazers have been given no favors thus far in 2010-11, and if every so often they get whupped then so be it. What can’t happen though is for this two-game losing streak to turn into a four or five gamer. Portland has gotten close to turning the corner on this season, but they’re a long way from winning comfortably night in and night out.

The Blazers travel to Phoenix to take on the Suns on Friday. Phoenix is in somewhat of a tailspin at the moment, but anything can happen. It seems to me that in the NBA the real effect of losing a game is only determined by how well a team plays in their next game. Friday will show if Portland can shake these two home losses, or if the good play as of late was more or less an aberration.

Some brief thoughts I had during Tuesday’s loss:

• I hate to be the guy that blames stuff on the referees, or is continually complaining about poor refereeing, but I have to voice an opinion on something. Amar’e Stoudemire travels. He travels almost every time he goes to the hoop. In fact the only time he doesn’t travel is when he shoots stand-still jumpers. Sure he gets called once in awhile, but this guy travels ALL THE TIME. He shuffles his feet, he picks up his pivot foot, he switches his pivot foot, he takes a step before he takes a dribble. He is a master of traveling. NBA refs, for some reason, don’t like to call traveling. Maybe they think that if they call a guy like Amar’e for traveling once they have to call it all the time. Sorry fellas, and lady, that’s your job. Call him three times for traveling in the first quarter, and maybe he learns that it’s AGAINST THE RULES. Just saying.
• Ronny Turiaf had himself a ball game. I’m not a fan of Turiaf, but Tuesday he bettered LaMarcus on defense and on offense. Turiaf missed only one field goal attempt, grabbed an even 10 boards, and harassed LA into the first bad night he’s had in almost a month. Sure one good game from Turiaf probably means four or five bad games, but unfortunately for Blazer fans he had to pick Tuesday to come to play.
• Wilson Chandler can flat out play. Amar’e is the name on this Knick squad, but he at least shares best-player status with Chandler. He can shoot, he can dunk, and he’s a beast athletically. New York isn’t a good enough team to compete for a title, at least not with who they have, but they’d be smart to keep Wilson Chandler around. I’m sure he’s on a lot of people’s short lists for possible additions.
• Post game, Nate said the team was getting Wednesday off. They need it. This team is tired, and rest can only help. Everybody looked absolutely exhausted, and those that chose to talk to the media did so in a reserved fashion. I feel the player’s pain, but let me be the first to say, this could be worse. We could all be Cleveland Cavaliers fans right now.

Box Score

Standings

Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

This about sums up how Roy's night went. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

The Portland Trail Blazers never gave up.

All season long, despite a ridiculous amount of adversity ranking from on-court injuries to front office drama, the Blazers never gave up. And that fact right there is the only thing that’s keep the sting of Game 6′s elimination away. This was a team to be proud of and it is only fitting that they went out in such a prideful way.

For all purposes, there were about 4 or 5 times in the 3rd quarter when the Blazers could have packed it in. They did not. They gave it everything they had, Phoenix just put together a better 48 minutes. It’s no fun saying that but it’s true.

The Suns pretty much put on a clinic on how to win in the playoffs. The story of the first half was them getting out to a great start and never really looking back. For the first 24 minutes, it seemed as if every time Portland was about to turn the tide, the Suns had an answer. Anytime Portland hit a shot which got the Rose Garden exciting, the kind of shot that could spark a run, Phoenix answered. Anytime the lead was cut to 3 or 5 or 6, Goran Dragic or Jared ‘I just guaranteed no one in Portland will like me for the rest of my career’ Dudley would hit a three. In the third quarter, Phoenix extended the lead like playoff teams are supposed to. In the fourth, they kept their poise, answered Portland’s run and shut the door. Credit to them.

All series long, Phoenix felt like if they made their shots they would be fine. Tonight actually proved them right…they made shots. Jason Richardson led the way (28 points, 10-for-16), Amar’e was Amar’e but the big keys were Jared Dudley and Goran Dragic. Both scored in double figures and both hit timely buckets to stunt the Blazer effort at one point or another. Dudley just about took my heart out with his 3-pointer with 14 seconds left in the third quarter.

A ton of credit needs to go Phoenix’s way for their effort tonight. They won Game 6, which means Portland got outright beat, rather than beating themselves. The key to the game was their defense. The Suns were effective all night in their double-teams of LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy. Those double-teams not only rendered both of them ineffective (shot a combined 9-for-33) but for the first 36 minutes the Blazers could not make Phoenix pay for these double teams. A lot of that was because of Phoenix’s excellent defense rotation, I mean they were running around like a college team in a shell drill on some possessions. Some of it was because of Portland’s poor spacing. It’s truly a shame Andre Miller struggled in Game 6, more on that later.

In an Alanis Morrissette twist of irony, it was two of the most criticized players this year who nearly saved the season. Martell Webster and Rudy Fernandez shot the Blazers right back into it. After all the frustration and anger sent their way, ultimately they were responsible for giving Blazer fans one last moment and one last hope. Their ability to space the floor AND knock down shots helped Portland turn a 65-74 deficit to a 76-76 tie game. Portland just couldn’t capitalize from there and a 2:30 minute drought would end up being the difference between Game 7 and  going fishing.

Individual Thoughts

Brandon Roy….4-for-16, 14 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds. I remember texting Coup when Portland tied the game that “I’m kind of OK with Roy staying out until around the 3 minute mark” and he agreed. Of course he went back in immediately. It’s a tightrope here with Roy. He gave it his all to come back and play in a Portland uniform and as a fan, what more can you ask for? Clearly the Suns were determined not to let him even think about being Brandon Roy because they double teamed him constantly. That right there says a lot about his ability and what he means to the team. It worked for two reasons, one Roy was a touch to slow to really make them pay, his only recourse to bounce back and look for open teammates. Two, the spacing was out of wack. The one thing I will say is my biggest fear did come true in that there was a little too much deference to Roy on the offensive side of things.

It’s unfortunate people are going to question whether or not Roy should have been on the floor or not. Say what you want but he’s earned that free pass from me. He struggled in Game’s 5 and 6 when the Suns made an adjustment and he couldn’t make them pay. But he gave us all an incredible moment in Game 4, and without him out there taking pressure and attention away from LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Miller, do we pull it off? I’m not sure.

LaMarcus did his best against the constant double teams but was rendered ineffective. The positive? He’s gotten his first ‘big boy’ reps, aka gone through his first playoffs where teams were effectively treating him like a superstar. If anything he will come back even hungrier.

Speaking of Andre Miller, 4 points, 3 assists on 2-of-10 shooting in 18 minutes. It is a shame he struggled in Game 6 because the Blazers needed him. The double teams were effective on LaMarcus and Brandon because Andre Miller couldn’t make them pay. They were at times daring him to shoot midrange jumpers (which I found odd) and then he started standing closer to the hoop when the double teams came. It’s not the missed shots that were unfortunate, he just seemed a bit tentative for the first time all series. When Roy would kick it out of a double team to him, it seemed as if he took too much time to make a decision.

Already talked about Martell and Rudy and their shot-making abilities and except for Rudy’s really weird, step back, air ball with Portland down 75-76 that almost took the air out of the RG, they were unreal. Jerryd Bayless joined them and even though his shot was off (4-for-12) his energy was there and so was his ability to create (7 assists). It’s just a shame that Grant Hill did that to him.