From Nash to Harry: The Legendary Destiny of the Genius Point Guard!

Time went back to 2004. Nash became a free agent that summer. The contract issued by his parent team Dallas was not as good as the Suns. Nash chose to leave the Mavericks and join the Suns.

Nash was 30 years old at that time. Before becoming a free agent, he was selected as the All-Star and Best Team for two consecutive years. He is generally recognized as an excellent player with excellent viewing. However, the characteristics of offense over defense are gradually becoming clear. As a white man, he is about to enter a recession stage, but he ushered in an unexpected explosion moment.

Before Nash joined the team, the Suns had a record of only 29 wins and 53 losses, ranking second from the bottom in the West; shortly after the start of the season, the management chose to fire coach Frank Johnson, allowing former European League assistant D'Anthony to take over, but he only scored a record of 21 wins and 40 losses.

forward core Sir was still a second-year rookie at the time, averaging 20.6 points and 9 rebounds per game; forward Marion, who just turned 25, was selected as the All-Star the year before, and also had 19 points and 9.3 rebounds that year. No one expected that after the 30-year-old Nash joined, the Suns were completely reborn and instantly became the top team in the league with 62 wins.

Nash is the main control, with two swingers, Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson, Marion plays power forwards, Stoudemire is in the core center, and D'Antoni puts the five best players on the court, everyone can shoot, everyone can break through, and everyone can pass the ball. The only lineup that cannot dribble through is the strongest inside finishing point in the NBA.

The lineup seems short, but it can use speed advantages and offensive decisions to make up for its shortcomings. The offensive core Nash controls the rhythm of the game and revolves around the seven-second offensive system, and is a pioneer of the modern small ball system.

After the penultimate season of the West, the Suns not only replaced offensive point guard Marbury with Nash in the ball-handling position, but also joined Richardson, who was not stable, and there was not much change in other positions. Sir, Johnson, Marion and others are still young and their abilities are still in their growth stages, but 29 wins and 62 wins are still an incredible leap.

Nash himself dominated the assist list with 11.5 assists. Even though he averaged only 15.5 points per game, he relied on the team record and the story of turning around with the trough. He finally narrowly defeated his opponent in the MVP vote to win the MVP, and was selected into the best team for a team, becoming the veritable first point guard in the league.

Suns only made three seasons in the second year, and second ball-holder Joe Johnson was poached by the Hawks, and Richardson also left the Suns. The inside finisher and two main players in the backcourt were missing at one time. Three of the top five scorers per game in the Suns last season left the team.

Nash shouldered the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. At that time, there were three 60-win teams in the league, namely the Spurs, the Mavericks, and the Pistons, the leading league leader in the East. Among them, the Spurs and the Pistons are team play styles, and there are no stars with particularly outstanding single data. Nowitzki, the star of the old club Mavericks, has a very high reputation, but his story is not as strong as Nash. In the end, even though the Suns lost 8 wins in the record, Nash still managed to successfully redeem the MVP and wrote down his own legend.

After turning to the Suns, the regular season record has risen sharply, and there are only a handful of people who have achieved such achievements as MVP in Nanshi. Including Nash's history, only 13 people have completed it. In addition to the two MVPs, there are three times one team, two times two teams, two times three teams in the NBA during the Mavericks, and eight All-Stars were taken away. Nash's achievements are almost impeccable.

But in the eyes of fans who value the championship, Nash, who only played four times to the Western Conference Finals and lost all of them, and had never played the finals at all, still has a lot of controversy. Looking back on the past history, among all the players who won MVP for the rest of the year, Nash has never won the championship, and he is indeed slightly inferior in the team's achievements.

Whether it is the league's black whistle or the player's injury or the outcome of success or defeat, Nash has never even touched the floor of the finals. In the list of point guards in history, there are two other two who often discuss with Nash, namely Kidd at the same time and Chris Paul who is about to play in the 21st season.

Unlike Nash who was stronger than defense, Kidd and Paul both won the best defense team at their peak. Both are super point guards who are both offensive and defensive.

Kidd once won the championship in the Mavericks, and Paul also played in the finals in the Suns. The team's achievements seem to be above Nash, so many people will rank Nash behind the two of them. But no matter what, when discussing the top ten point guards in the NBA, this super point guard with long flowing hair and creating a new era is always indispensable.

Next, let's take a look at Halliburton, who has led the Pacers to the Finals for many years but suffered a major Achilles tendon injury this season.

may be the curse of Indiana, and the young masters of the Pacers were always sealed by injuries. Paul George, the first young master in 2010, debuted to win the fastest progress, two three teams, and one defense team. He was entangled with the Eastern Conference Heat in the division finals for two consecutive years. He was supposed to be the team's future leader, but he participated in the US Men's Basketball Training Camp in 2014 and fell to the ground in a practice game.

Pacers patiently waited for George to recover from injury, and he successfully returned to the All-Star level. However, after years of failure, George took the initiative to apply for leaving the team, and finally left the Pacers to go to the Thunder, ending the Pacers' young master time.

After the trade, Oladipo, as a bargaining chip, broke out of his cocoon in the first year of joining the team, selected as the All-Star player to win the fastest-progressive player, selected as the best third team and the best first team in the best defensive team, and entered the peak period at the age of 25, successfully becoming the new generation of Pacers young master.

Unexpectedly, in a normal regular season game after the All-Star game, Oladipo suddenly fell to the ground during a fast break and then diagnosed a ruptured quadriceps tendon.. Even though he returned to the stadium later, he was no longer the Black Panther who had once flew to the sky and the ground, and he never returned to his level before his injury. After many wandering teams, he had faded out of the NBA.

Perhaps the fate of the young master of the Pacers was doomed to be bumpy. George was 24 years old, Oladipo was 26 years old, and Halliburton was 25 years old. The three of them suddenly fell when they were about to reach their career high. It is really sad. The first two young masters had bad endings in the Pacers, and compared with the first two, Halliburton's difference is that he has never won the fastest-progressive player, and may have the hope of getting rid of the fate of his predecessors.

Durant, who also suffered a major injury to the Achilles tendon rupture, was injured in June 2019 and missed the following 2019-20 season. Generally speaking, the Achilles tendon will be seriously injured for at least 9 months before returning to the court; Halliburton will undergo surgery immediately as soon as he is injured and will be able to return as early as March 2026. If the Pacers have a good record in the new season, he even has a chance to make his debut on the playoff stage.

However, the study points out that after suffering from a major Achilles tendon injury, the longer the rest time, the higher the probability of returning to full blood state. Durant has been back in the field for 18 months from injury to returning to the court, and now it seems that there is little impact. On the other hand, Cousins ​​only spent a year returning to the field, and the late star Kobe spent 11 months fighting in the NBA again. Unfortunately, neither of them could return to the pre-injury level.

Halliburton is very important to the Pacers, and the team will surely give him more patience. He should not be seen returning to the court in the 2025-26 season. During the Kings' era, Halliburton's backcourt partner was another point guard Fox, who basically did not gain control until he transferred to the Pacers. Carlisle built the Pacers into an offensive squad that actively runs and uses real and fake cover to create opportunities.

Halliburton became the focus of the Pacers for the first time in the mid-season championship in 2023. First, he scored 26 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists against the Celtics, and made 0 mistakes in the whole game; then he faced the Bucks, and scored 27 points, 7 rebounds, 15 assists again, and the turnover data was once again perfect 0. The perfect performance of both the two powerful forces in the East made 0 mistakes.

turnover control is the biggest difference between Halliburton and Nash. In terms of career assists and losses, Halliburton's excellent 4.2 leads the league with an astonishing 5.0 in the 2024-25 season, and only makes a mistake every 5 assists.

And Nash is a slightly inferior 2.9, almost the same as Johnson, the magician who is recognized as the strongest point guard in history. Paul, who is famous for his control mistakes, had a career assist-loss ratio of 4. Compared to this, it is enough to show how outstanding Halliburton is in this regard.

Of course, the configuration of teammates on the field is different. The Suns basically use Nash as a quarterback, especially after Joe Johnson, who can fight in high intensity, left the team and went to the Hawks. The other four were all the ending points. Strictly speaking, the Suns did not even have a setter at that time, and the overall offense was completely reliant on Nash to revitalize.

The Pacers are equipped with Nembhard, the ball holding point in the backcourt, and can bear the responsibility for the offensive engine; there is also Siakam, who has strong individual combat capabilities on the flanks. When the tactics cannot be opened, they can directly rely on personal abilities to solve the problem, and the offensive end will not rely entirely on Halliburton. The irreplaceable part of Halliburton lies in his sense of smell when the offense and defense transition, and his passing vision during half-court attack. He can accurately control the minimization of risks, judge teammates in running positions, and maximize the local misalignment advantages, making the Pacers a terrified offensive team in the past two years. The Pacers can still keep their mistakes low in such a fast style, and their control over offensive opportunities is definitely at the top level in the league.

The shots that were questioned back then have gradually improved in recent years. He doesn't have top-level efficiency like Nash, but he's already very strong by point guard standards in terms of three shooting percentages. The three-point shooting percentage and real shooting percentage of each year are above the league average. Apart from the slightly poor offensive ability and fewer free throws, there are basically no shortcomings.

Nash is the top ten point guards in history, completing the 180 club standard four times, making him the first in NBA history, with amazing offensive efficiency, but the two points of defensive weakness and lifeless championship are always discussed and questioned by fans.

Halliburton led the team to the division finals for two consecutive years, and even lost until the seventh game of the finals, and had surpassed Nash in terms of ball results. It depends on whether you can strengthen your defensive weaknesses after returning to the team after recovering from injury and leading the Pacers to challenge the championship.

Hope Halliburton can return with full health and see him cast his magic at a critical moment again.