Happened to spot this stat on ESPN.com...

[Cry Havoc]

Most double-digit assist games in NBA playoff history:

Magic Johnson 143
John Stockton 100
Isiah Thomas 48
Kevin Johnson 48
Jason Kidd 42
Steve Nash 39
Bob Cousy 38
Oscar Robertson 36


Not hating, but WOW. People are seriously messed up if they think Nash is in the same league as Johnson. 143 games is just ridiculous. 43 more than Stockton!!! :reading

[mFFL03]

nash is obviously the MVP...and we'll see that in Round 2

[Cry Havoc]

nash is obviously the MVP...and we'll see that in Round 2

As Parker blows by him for a layup. :lol

[ponky]

so magic has been in more playoff games and had more success in getting deeper in the playoffs than nash? lol, seriously, i wonder how many playoff games each guy has played to get a more accurate assessment

[monosylab1k]

imagine if Nash played in the 80's when seemingly every team was run-n-gun and defense didn't even exist until the Pistons showed up.

[cornbread]

143 games is just ridiculous. 43 more than Stockton!!! :reading
And he could've had more than that if weren't for his HIV diagnosis.

[Cry Havoc]

so magic has been in more playoff games and had more success in getting deeper in the playoffs than nash? lol, seriously, i wonder how many playoff games each guy has played to get a more accurate assessment

You can't judge someone by what they "could" have done, though. Nash would probably have a lot more games in that stat if he had played with the Lakers in the 80s instead of Magic, but hypotheticals don't work when you're talking about career numbers.

And if it was close, I might even be persuaded to give Nash the nod, but Magic has over 100+ games of double digit playoff assists than Nash. That's a staggering number, and even if you want to compare era's, Nash wasn't a top 3 point guard for his entire career. He only came on really his last two years in Dallas and then obviously in Phoenix. Nash is awesome. He's by far the best PG in the league for any offense. But the Spurs series will show his flaws, and they do exist.

[Cry Havoc]

imagine if Nash played in the 80's when seemingly every team was run-n-gun and defense didn't even exist until the Pistons showed up.

Nash would have been as unstoppable then as now. But part of me wonders if we would have noticed as much. Back then he would have been mixed in with Magic and Stockton, and his style of play wouldn't have been regarded as anything too original. Today he's such a fantastically entertaining contrast it's impossible not to notice.

[ponky]

You can't judge someone by what they "could" have done, though. Nash would probably have a lot more games in that stat if he had played with the Lakers in the 80s instead of Magic, but hypotheticals don't work when you're talking about career numbers.

And if it was close, I might even be persuaded to give Nash the nod, but Magic has over 100+ games of double digit playoff assists than Nash. That's a staggering number, and even if you want to compare era's, Nash wasn't a top 3 point guard for his entire career. He only came on really his last two years in Dallas and then obviously in Phoenix. Nash is awesome. He's by far the best PG in the league for any offense. But the Spurs series will show his flaws, and they do exist.

oh don't get me wrong, i know he has flaws, particularly on defense and i don't know if maybe fatigue (GASP!) is setting in, but he didn't have a great game last night, going 5-15, 0-2 on threes and a whopping 7 turnovers to go with his ten assists in 38 min of play...spurs will roll over the suns as long as they get contributions from the big three...and finley continues to stay hot (i'm so proud of him even if he is now a spur, he will always be the face of the mavs during the nellie era)

[FromWayDowntown]

so magic has been in more playoff games and had more success in getting deeper in the playoffs than nash? lol, seriously, i wonder how many playoff games each guy has played to get a more accurate assessment

Magic Johnson appeared in 190 playoff games in his career.

Steve Nash has appeared in 91.

[ponky]

Magic Johnson appeared in 190 playoff games in his career.

Steve Nash has appeared in 91.


cool, thanks

[Matrix Marion]

nash is obviously the MVP...and we'll see that in Round 2

:toast I agree with that

[FromWayDowntown]

Expressed as a percentage of games played, the Magic advantage is actually more significant.

Magic went for 10+ assists in 75.3% of all playoff games in which he participated.

Nash, by contrast has gone for 10+ in 42.9% of all playoff games in which he has participated.

[bdubya]

I had no idea Zeke would rank that high. :toast

[ambchang]

Zeke holds one of the top 5 assists seasons in the league, I think. The other 4 probably all belongs to Stockton.

[Bob Lanier]

Zeke holds one of the top 5 assists seasons in the league, I think. The other 4 probably all belongs to Stockton.
Yes. (http://basketball-reference.com/labs/stats.cgi?type=PerGame&league=NBA&franch=All&first=1947&last=2006&combine=No&minage=0&maxage=99&stat=AST&min=0&minstat=G&sort=desc&limit=50&submit=View+Stats)

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Just to make comparisons...how many high-assistgames does Nash have?

Hell, I just started working backwards from last season and he had 9 dimes in DAL's clinching game.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Nash averaged 10+ assists in the Mavs series.
Nash averaged just under 11 assists in the Clippers series.
Nash avergaed just under 10 assists in the Lakers series last season.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Say Nash can't defend, but don't say he isn't a great PG.

[Spurminator]

how does Oscar have only 36 games?

Back then you had to be a good team to make it to the Playoffs, so not everyone played a lot of postseason games.

[RonMexico]

Most double-digit assist games in NBA playoff history:

Magic Johnson 143
John Stockton 100
Isiah Thomas 48
Kevin Johnson 48
Jason Kidd 42
Steve Nash 39
Bob Cousy 38
Oscar Robertson 36


Not hating, but WOW. People are seriously messed up if they think Nash is in the same league as Johnson. 143 games is just ridiculous. 43 more than Stockton!!! :reading

Magic was also in the playoffs almost every year of his career since his rookie season and was on teams that went to the finals. How can you compare the fact that Magic got at least an extra 4-8 games per year than Nash did in the playoffs?

[FromWayDowntown]

Magic was also in the playoffs almost every year of his career since his rookie season and was on teams that went to the finals. How can you compare the fact that Magic got at least an extra 4-8 games per year than Nash did in the playoffs?

Well, one way to compare them is to look at them on an average-per-playoff run basis.

Magic's teams had some long playoff runs (16, 14, 15, 21, 19, 14, 18, 24, 14, 19) but in those seasons, Magic averaged some fairly mind-boggling assist totals: 12.8, 13.5, 15.2, 15.1, 12.2, 12.6, 11.8, 12.6.

Nash's teams have made three long palyoff runs (20, 15, 20) but in those runs, the most assists that Nash has ever averaged was the 11.3 he put up in the 2005 playoffs. Pace certainly affects raw numbers, but on a per-game basis, Nash's best year wasn't as good as Magic's worst year among his long playoff runs.

By no means am I trying to disparage Nash. He's one of those players that I truly enjoy watching. But I do think the statistic is understandable -- and Magic's domination of that statistic is clearer -- when you put it in some context. Magic wasn't just getting to 10 assists most nights. Magic averaged 12.3 assists per game in the 190 playoff games in which he appeared. And that's with relatively low totals (for him) in his first 3 years (9.4, 7.0, 9.3) and in his last year (6.5). Magic's "poor" years were, by and large, the equivalent of Nash's playoff output while with the Mavericks.

[Cry Havoc]

Magic was also in the playoffs almost every year of his career since his rookie season and was on teams that went to the finals. How can you compare the fact that Magic got at least an extra 4-8 games per year than Nash did in the playoffs?



Expressed as a percentage of games played, the Magic advantage is actually more significant.

Magic went for 10+ assists in 75.3% of all playoff games in which he participated.

Nash, by contrast has gone for 10+ in 42.9% of all playoff games in which he has participated.

Hmmm. RTFT.

[dallaskd]

Most double-digit assist games in NBA playoff history:

Magic Johnson 143
John Stockton 100
Isiah Thomas 48
Kevin Johnson 48
Jason Kidd 42
Steve Nash 39
Bob Cousy 38
Oscar Robertson 36


Not hating, but WOW. People are seriously messed up if they think Nash is in the same league as Johnson. 143 games is just ridiculous. 43 more than Stockton!!! :reading

Well behind.

[RonMexico]

Need to bar some of the outliers... Nash barely played his first few years as a Sun in the PO and really didn't put up the totals he does now in Dallas.

Still, your original point was that this proves how Nash isn't "great" which is completely false. What you mean is that he doesn't have Kareem, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilks, Michael Cooper, and Byron Scott.

[Cry Havoc]

Still, your original point was that this proves how Nash isn't "great" which is completely false.

Yes, because I've never stated that Nash is less than a great point guard anywhere else on these boards. :rolleyes

[FromWayDowntown]

Need to bar some of the outliers... Nash barely played his first few years as a Sun in the PO and really didn't put up the totals he does now in Dallas.

Still, your original point was that this proves how Nash isn't "great" which is completely false. What you mean is that he doesn't have Kareem, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilks, Michael Cooper, and Byron Scott.

I don't think there's any inconsistency at marvelling at just how good Magic was when he played and recognizing, at the same time, that Nash has had several absolutely great seasons and very, very good playoff runs. It's not as if being compared disfavorably (if only a little bit disfavorably) to Magic Johnson is some horrendous slight.

[RonMexico]

I don't think there's any inconsistency at marvelling at just how good Magic was when he played and recognizing, at the same time, that Nash has had several absolutely great seasons and very, very good playoff runs. It's not as if being compared disfavorably (if only a little bit disfavorably) to Magic Johnson is some horrendous slight.

I'm not ripping on Magic at all (well, maybe him as as a color analyst, studio personality, and late night talkshow host) and I don't mean to discredit how great of a player he was (leaves NCAA championship game after his sophomore year and wins Finals MVP in his rookie season... incredible) by saying that his supporting cast made him who he was. In fact, Nash's supporting cast (from coaching on down to the players) makes him who he is.

Magic is great; Nash is great... but you can't go out and compare the two with stats like absolute playoff assist totals. Nash is a late bloomer, and I maintain he's deserving of his accolades. If only he could add a Finals MVP to the mantle...