Suns’ Nash confident about beating Spurs

SAN ANTONIO - Steve Nash was feeling much better Monday. The flu bug that had dehydrated him and sapped his energy for the better part of four days was finally beaten back. And while he didn’t spend the night downing Mexican food along the Riverwalk, solid food was once again his friend.

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Two days removed from a tough double-overtime Game 1 loss that the Suns appeared to have won several times, Nash was bright-eyed and upbeat, intimating that this playoff series with the Spurs will feature several more twists and turns of story line.

Chapter 2 is tonight. And while no one is willing to say “must-win” in the Phoenix camp, a loss means the Suns would have to win four of the next five games against a team they have beaten four times in their last 14 playoff meetings.

But the past doesn’t interest Nash. He feels the current Suns are the best built to take down the champs. Since the Shaquille O’Neal trade, Phoenix has beaten the Spurs twice and lost a game where the tumblers of fate needed to align perfectly for disaster to strike.

“We’ve proven we’re more than capable of beating them, and beating them here. Game 1 only reinforces that feeling,” Nash said. “We made a ton of mistakes at crucial times, all of which only gave them a chance to make some incredible 3s to tie us.

“So right now we feel like, more times than not, we can beat this team. We just have to go out and prove it to everyone.”

Having Nash close to 100 percent will help. He had only five points in the first half, trying to save what little energy he had for the stretch run. That was even harder to swallow considering for more than half of his 45 minutes he was defended by Tony Parker — not Bruce Bowen, his normal postseason nemesis.

Bowen played 21 scoreless minutes in Game 1 and only seven in the second half when the Spurs were scrambling for offense and forced to use a gimpy Brent Barry and Ime Udoka. When Nash let it all hang out, he had 20 points in the final 22 minutes, including 14 in the overtime periods.

If the Suns can keep their big men on the floor and improve their defense against San Antonio’s pick and roll, it will be that much harder for the Spurs to keep the pesky Bowen on the floor — meaning less elbows and knees in Nash’s face and more room for him to operate.

The first half of Game 1 is a good blueprint. Tim Duncan was effective (7-for-9 shooting) but the rest of the Spurs — Manu Ginobili and Parker included — were a combined 7-for-28 (25 percent) and could only match Duncan’s 20 points.

That changed when foul trouble sent the Phoenix big men to the bench and the Spurs were able to attack the basket (50 points in the paint after intermission).

Bowen still managed to have an impact late. With 1:07 left in the second overtime, the Suns ran an inbounds play off a timeout and he got his feet tangled with Nash, who fell to the floor as he was running to accept the pass.

That caused Raja Bell to call another 20-second timeout — one Phoenix could have used after Ginobili’s game-winning basket with 1.8 seconds left.