Nash has played 118 playoff games, more than anyone else in NBA history

Nash has played 118 playoff games, more than anyone else in NBA history Phoenix was shredded for 252 points in the first two games against Los Angeles, but came home to win the next two. The Suns rallied from 18 down in Game 5 to tie it on Jason Richardson's three-point bank shot with three seconds to play only to see Ron Artest grab Bryant's air ball and throw it in at the buzzer for a 103-101 victory. The Suns trailed by 17 after three quarters on Saturday night when second-year pro Goran Dragic led a rally that cut the lead to three before Bryant settled things for good.

"When you get from the conference finals and you're a couple of points from being up 3-2, you feel like you're going to make it to the finals. I think sometimes disappointment can cloud perspective," Nash said. "People didn't really think we had what it took to make the playoffs even. To build a team, especially in professional basketball, that can exceed so many expectations as greatly as ours did last year, there's a lot of pride."

Nash has played 118 playoff games, more than anyone else in NBA history who did not make the finals. No one, he said, should feel sorry for him.

"I have a pretty great life," he said. "I had one scholarship offer (after high school). To be in the conference finals four a fourth time is a lot more than I bargained for when I started playing this game. I think also a couple of those conference finals were really the championship series. I think a lot of it is just talk, and I'm fine with it."

After Saturday night's game, Nash made a point of noting that Gentry is one of the lowest-paid coaches in the league and that he deserves better. In his first full season, the coach was able to foster the camaraderie and bring along the young players to make the team better than the sum of its parts.

"We tried to accomplish our goal, which was to get to the NBA finals, and it didn't work out," Gentry said, "but as I said to our players, we will not look at this as a negative in any way. Christmas gifts I think what we accomplished this year as a team and the way they played and the improvements that we made and the way the young guys got better and the leadership that we had, all of those things are real, real positive and we'll try to take those and try to grow from there."