That's the number of minutes Steve Nash is on pace to play this season.
That's about 54 minutes less than he played under Mike D'Antoni but is still a far cry from the 30 minutes per game, 70 games this season (or 2100 minutes total) that management put forth earlier in the season.
Congratulations, Suns fans, you got it right so far.
Phoenix Stan thinks I'm off-base wanting to sit Nash for the Thunder game, given that the team has played just one game in the past 9 days. However, I think NBA wear-and-tear is NBA wear-and-tear whenever it happens. I'm not worried about a little rust at this point in the season.
While there might be a lot of positives to sitting Nash and really working with the Nashless Suns team in the preseason laboratory NBA fans euphemistically call the Oklahoma City ThunderDome, I'm more focused on the negatives. Steve Nash has had to quit two games this year due to back spasms, playing just five and nine minutes in those games, including tonight's game against the Loud Noise. Why did we have to play Nash against the Thunder, only to have him crap out, even if the move was precautionary?
To this point, P Stan made this observation:
Minutes vs games
I think as I understand Nash’s body – and clearly its a focus of mine – he tends to stiffen up if he rests too long. So if you want him in the game and productive at the end you kind of have to play him enough minutes to stay ready.
(and yeah, I wanted to point out that sexy post again)
Whether Nash usage rises as the playoff hunt intensifies is an open question. All I know is that to date, the Suns still need Steve Nash on the floor and that the none of the plans in the past five years to get him more rest has worked. We have swapped out the GM, the coach, all but 2 other players, dozens of wannabe PGs.
I think we inch closer to the goal, but I'm through hoping for a magical solution there. And not to complain too much about this lofty 2% improvement, but I do hope we save the the player a little bit more and try to rely on the other players a bit more.