Nash has never been mistaken for Bruce Bowen on the defensive end, but now he couldn't even cover Bob Cousy. At age 80.

"Who's been down on Steve Nash?" Allen Iverson asked the other night. "He's definitely an All-Star and he's still playing like an MVP."

Even Nash would dispute that. He didn't make the All-Star cut on his homecourt, he has no chance of winning a third MVP, and sometimes his body language suggests he wouldn't mind following Stoudemire out the door.

Shaq hasn't helped him. As much as O'Neal's role on offense has contributed to Stoudemire's unease, O'Neal's presence inside has clogged up the very lanes his point guard needs to slice and dice.

To complicate matters, Nash has logged thousands upon thousands of miles on an overworked body that's beginning to betray him.

"The shoulder, the back, the hamstring — everything was bothering me," Nash said after scoring his two points in the Philly loss.

Meanwhile, O'Neal looks daisy-fresh. Porter has even taken to playing him in both games of a back-to-back.

Only the goal here wasn't to prop up Shaq for the sake of Shaq. The Suns are accustomed to needing space and speed and the freedom to react before they think, and Shaq is the oil tanker getting in their way.

Sure, Marion was a pain in the rump who hasn't exactly lifted the Heat to the places O'Neal once took them. But Marion was a tough, athletic defender and a mobile wing in a Phoenix attack made for his high-flying ways.

Maybe Sarver and Kerr forgot the Suns would've won a title the D'Antoni way if they didn't get a raw deal from the league in the 2007 series with the Spurs. Maybe they just grew tired of stressing defense to a man who refused to coach it (D'Antoni just surrendered 144 points to Golden State — in regulation).

Either way, the Suns were better off in those dizzying run-for-fun days that preceded Shaq's arrival. All they have to show for the trade is a first-round loss to the Spurs, and a precarious tie for the eighth Western Conference seed.

O'Neal is playing good basketball again. It would be better news if his team could say the same.