Doing Lines: Steve Nash Finds a Step

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Before the Suns took the court in Detroit on Sunday, head coach Terry Porter defended Steve Nash, who's seen his numbers decline across the board in Mike D'Antoni's absence.

"Steve has gotten a bad rap this year, and I put that all on me as far as [people] saying he's slowed down or he's not doing the things he's used to do," Porter said. "A lot of that has been because of the things we've done offensively at times."

Early in the season, Porter put the brakes on Nash, implementing an offense that didn't rely quite as extensively on the two-time MVP. The Suns struggled, so Porter eventually handed back the reins -- and Nash has been running ever since. He's averaged 11.9 assists over the last 19 games, including a season-high 21 dimes Sunday night against the Pistons.

Nash's career-high is 22 assists set three years ago in New York -- though he needed three overtimes and more than 55 minutes to make it happen. In hindsight, that makes Sunday's performance even more special considering it came in regulation and he played just 34 minutes. The icing on the cake? The performance also bumped him up a spot on the career assist leaderboard, moving him past Lenny Wilkins and into 10th all-time.

And yet, despite Nash being on top of his game and All-Star weekend taking place in his own backyard next weekend, Nash is not on the All-Star team this year. Can someone explain that one to me again?

Stepping up: You may not have noticed, but Kevin Durant has officially turned the corner. Sure, he had a nifty game on Sunday -- 39 points, seven boards, four assists -- but what's more remarkable is how unremarkable that type of performance has become -- it was his fourth straight game with at least 30 points (and sixth straight with at least 29). We're used to seeing good players on bad teams rack up stats, but he's hardly a volume shooter: he shot 16-25 from the field, 3-4 from beyond the arc and 4-5 from the stripe on Sunday.

Kobe who? As Matt Moore explained, you'd think a flu-riddled Kobe Bryant would spell disaster for the Lakers in Cleveland, but the Cavs had no answer for Lamar Odom, who exploded for 28 and 17 to give LeBron James and Co. their first home loss of the year.

Dangerous duo: Wins have been in short supply in our nation's capital, but they'll come easier if Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison keep it up. Butler scored 35 points with 13 boards while Jamison "chipped in" 34 and six.