Reports Say Nash Is the MVP

Steve Nash, who joined Phoenix last summer as a free agent after spending six seasons with Dallas, reportedly will be named winner of the NBA’s most-valuable-player award on Sunday.

The Arizona Republic, Associated Press and ESPN.com reported Friday that Nash, 31, had won the award, but the NBA was silent regarding any details of the announcement.

According to a poll conducted by the Arizona Republic, Nash and Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal were locked in a near dead heat. The newspaper surveyed 106 of the 127 writers and broadcasters who voted for the league’s 50th MVP award and found that Nash had 53 first-place votes and O’Neal had 51.

Nash would become the first Canadian player to win the award and only the sixth guard, following Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan

The Suns were 29-53 last season but finished a league-best 62-20 this season with Nash.

Although O’Neal, who won the award in 2000, did not talk to reporters, his teammates did. They suggested the center would be motivated by finishing second.

“Oooh, that would be scary. If he doesn’t win it,” it’s going to make him angry, said Alonzo Mourning, who finished second in the 1999 voting to O’Neal. “I don’t want to play against him. Glad he’s on my team.”

Heat guard Damon Jones said it was clear who the best player was in the NBA.

“When you talk about MVP, you have to evaluate not just one end of the floor, but both ends, offense and defense,” Jones said. “Steve Nash has done a wonderful job, but does he really affect the game on the defensive end? Offensively, he’s superb. But hands-down, Shaq is the MVP.”

O’Neal averaged 22.9 points and 10.4 rebounds and shot a league-best 60.1%.

Nash averaged 15.5 points and made more than 50% of his shots -- a rarity for guards.

Nash, who averaged a league-best 11.5 assists, said little about the award, instead focusing on the Suns’ next game against the winner of the Dallas-Houston series.

“It’s exciting to be mentioned, [but] the game is so important for us on Monday that it’s a hard time of year to get excited about MVP,” he said.

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Coach Terry Porter is staying with the Milwaukee Bucks, but two of his assistants were fired after the team’s worst season in almost a decade.

General Manager Larry Harris said he let go of veteran assistant Mike Schuler, a former Clipper coach, and Jerome Kersey, saying the team needed different voices after finishing 30-52 in Porter’s second season.