Nash, Suns Finally Beat Spurs in the Playoffs

Steve and his one good eye finally took down their postseason nemesis, and the Arizona Republic has the details: “When those hated San Antonio Spurs were reeling backward, they made one last strike at the hero. An inadvertent Tim Duncan elbow to Steve Nash’s right eye drew blood and conjured up dreadful memories of another bloody Sunday in the 2007 prequel. Nash got six stitches and the eye swelled nearly shut, turning him into the vengeful monster. The man with one good eye and two MVPs had died five playoff deaths in Dallas and Phoenix at the Spurs’ hands but slew the beast this time with a 10-point, five-assist fourth quarter that helped the Suns complete a conference semifinals sweep, 107-101 at AT&T Center … Phoenix won a franchise-best six consecutive playoff games to advance to its ninth Western Conference finals in franchise history and could play the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, who lead their series 3-0 against Utah. The conference finals series will not start until at least May 17. All the sweeter, the team nobody figured on being in the NBA final four got there by being the first team to sweep San Antonio since the Lakers did it in the 2001 NBA Finals. ‘I just wanted to win the game,’ said Nash, who opened the series with a 33-point, 10-assist effort in Game 1. ‘I didn’t want to just be out there faking it. We’d come so far and had such a great opportunity. I don’t want to glorify it and make it into fairy tales, but it’s been a long time that I haven’t been able to beat this team, and I had a great shot at it. I was just trying to close it out and do everything I could.”‘