When he was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 1996, Steve Nash was the No. 3 point guard behind Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd. Wednesday night in New Orleans, the two-time MVP moved to the top of the franchise's all-time point guard list in record-breaking fashion.
Two days after a thigh bruise made it impossible for him to run, Nash ran the New Orleans Hornets into submission with 30 points and 10 assists, passing Johnson to become the Suns' all-time assists leader in the third quarter of the 120-103 blowout win.
Nash picked up his 6,518th assist on a lob pass to Josh Childress to tie Johnson before finding Childress again with a slicing, fast break pass for a layup to take over the lead.
Nash now has 9,441 career assists, which ranks sixth all-time in NBA history, and he is poised to go even higher. He sits just 46 behind Oscar Robertson for fifth place and needs 200 assists to catch Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
"To be honest, it pales in comparison to getting the win," Nash said. "The things that really matter about (the record) is: One, to be up there with Kevin, who was a great, great player and deserves a lot of credit for what type of player he was. And then the other one, just I love the city and organization, and to do it for the Suns is a real honor.
"But other than that I'm just glad the team got the win."
The Suns were glad to have Nash back. He hit 13 of 16 shots from the field to lead a 53 percent shooting effort for the team. They will need to keep that going Friday night in Houston against the Rockets if they want to complete a 2-0 road trip.
NOTES, QUOTES
-- Even against the 4-18 Hornets, who are now a miserable 2-11 at home, the Suns couldn't do much defensively. New Orleans put up 59 points in the first half and had an 11-point lead before the Suns ended the second quarter with a harbinger of the future with an 8-0 run.
But the Suns offense saved the day. Led by Steve Nash's 30 points and 10 assists, the Suns had a 10-0 run in the third quarter and a 13-0 blitz in the fourth quarter. They had been 0-12 when trailing at halftime this season, but three consecutive 30-point quarters and a 64-point second half brought back memories of the old run-and-gun Suns.
"We attacked the basket," Gentry said. "I thought we did a good job of getting them in rotation, and because they were in rotation, we had some opportunities to get offensive rebounds that ended up being fouls, which ended up being foul shots."
-- Nash wasn't the only Phoenix point guard playing well Wednesday. Backup Sebastian Telfair followed up a strong game subbing for Nash on Monday by giving the Suns their biggest lift of the night.
Telfair scored the final nine points of the third quarter to give the Suns an 88-87 lead entering the fourth. He did it despite letting his temper get the best of him again, picking up a silly foul and a technical from referee Dick Bavetta. But he channeled his emotion in the right direction and joined Shannon Brown and Ronnie Price to frustrate the New Orleans offense until Nash returned and orchestrated a 13-0 run to close out the game.
"The defensive job that Sebastian (Telfair) did was really key for us, and I thought Ronnie Price came in and did a good job defensively as well," Gentry said.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Obviously, when Steve (Nash) is going like that, we're pretty good. He was real aggressive offensively and shot the ball well. I thought we did a good job in our spin-and-roll offense of rolling and getting some more easy baskets." -- Suns coach Alvin Gentry.
ROSTER REPORT
-- C Marcin Gortat extended his double-digit rebounding streak to 13 games with a 23-point, 11-rebound effort. He has the second-longest double-digit rebounding streak in the NBA behind Kevin Love, who has a 15-game streak. Gortat now has a double-double in 12 of his last 13 games.
-- F Channing Frye may finally be seeing the light at the end of his shooting slump. He hit 5 of 9 shots from the field Wednesday night and contributed 16 points, his highest scoring output since setting a season high with 17 on Jan. 10.
MEDICAL WATCH
-- F Grant Hill (sore knee) was limited to 12 minutes in the first half Wednesday night and didn't play after intermission.
-- F Josh Childress, a steady DNP just a week ago, got the second-half start and is now bidding for regular rotation time.
