In watching the past couple of months, I've become really irritated with Nash's play. I can't remember the last time he had a great (or even very good) performance.
Statistically, in November Nash averaged 7.9 assists per game. In December and January, he has averaged 5.6 assists per game. This to me is the stat that most clearly highlights the deterioration in Nash's game.
I looked at shot attempts, but Nash is only averaging about one more attempt per game in this poor stretch of play, so I don't think it's solely a product of Nash being selfish or just looking for his own shot. Yet, I think we can all agree that Nash has not been particularly effective running the offense over the past couple of months. So what is the problem?
I personally think that it stems from a couple of things. First, he is the focal point of many opposing defenses, and they do seem to force him to do things he's not as comfortable doing. Also, his penetration-and-kick routines have become a bit predictable, and I think defenses are able to take away a lot of his passing lanes. Second, I think there's a lot of confusion when he has to play alongside Van Exel. While I readily admit I hate the "two PG" lineup, the supposed advantage of such a lineup was that it put an extra playmaker on the floor and that the two would be able to feed off of one another and make life very difficult for opposing defenses. Instead, what I've seen over the past couple of months has been two guys who don't know who's supposed to set up the offense, who's supposed to score, and what offense it is that they're running anyway. One guy tends to get the ball at the top of the key and try to penetrate while the other guy stands around and watches. The Mavericks offense as a whole has been very stagnant lately, and I think that has contributed to Nash's statistical drop and his unsteady play.
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