Amar'e Stoudemire returned to Phoenix to show the Suns organization what they missed out on by not outbidding New York for his skills. He led the Knicks to their biggest blowout win of the season 121-96.
Amar'e is an MVP candidate in New York and he's changed the Knicks from bottom dwellers to playoff contenders. Meanwhile, Suns point guard Steve Nash is going down with the Suns' ship. Phoenix is having their worst season since Nash's arrival. They've gutted their roster and every recently departed player has a better record with his new team than the Suns have.
Nash, arguably the most overrated MVP in NBA history (twice), is now the subject of trade rumors. Some reports claim that the Knicks are interested in Nash.
There was a time where it would've seemed that Knick coach Mike D'Antoni would love to have his old Phoenix point guard Nash running his fast paced offense in New York. But after what the Knicks did to the Suns on Friday night, D'Antoni must be feeling good about his departure from Phoenix as well as the players he has now compared to the somewhat limited talents of Nash.
Knick poing guard Felton Spencer put any 'Nash to New York' rumors to rest by getting his first career triple double against the Suns. He finished with 23 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. His Phoenix counterpart had 14 points, 9 assists and only 2 rebounds. The Knick guard outplayed Nash up and down the court, silencing the Phoenix crowd.
Nash played his usual soft matador defense and Felton took advantage and abused him all night. Slow and reluctant to play physical basketball, Nash was helpless in doing anything to stop Felton.
When Nash's lack of defense failed, he resorted to his favorite soccer technique of flopping to get calls. That didn't work either. Fifteen years in the NBA and he still hasn't learned how to play defense. What kind of MVP is that?
Nash and the Suns were outhustled and outworked by New York. The Knicks were up by eight points after the first quarter and 22 after the third. Suns owner Robert Sarver sulked in his courtside seats as reality set in that re-signing Amar'e should've been at the top of his 'to do' list last summer.
The Knicks keep rolling towards the playoffs while Phoenix flounders into irrelevance. Friday night showed us more of the greatness of Amar'e and the emerging talents of Raymond Felton. It was also another example of how Nash has never been good at slowing down top point guards in the NBA.
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