Nash’s injury not only problem for Phoenix

Steve Nash was bloodied. The Suns were beaten. Homecourt advantage was stolen.

The Western Conference semifinals have just begun, and already it seems like the San Antonio Spurs have recorded a technical knockout.

Perhaps the Suns will rebound from their 111-106 Game 1 loss. But they must feel today like Nash did Sunday when he butted heads with Tony Parker and had to sit out the final 54 seconds because trainer/cut man Aaron Nelson couldn’t stop the bleeding.

Frustrated. Angry. Hurt physically — and emotionally.

“Those guys are good,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “It’s almost like a heavyweight champion. You have to knock them out and we didn’t do it.”

The boxing analogy is appropriate because Game 1 turned into a prize fight that made Saturday’s Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather bout look like two kids tussling over the last cookie.

In the end, it was a boxing injury — the inadvertent head butt — that might cost the Suns the series.

Phoenix trailed, 106-104, when Nash was forced to the bench, his nose gushing like a geyser under the makeshift bandage applied by Nelson.

There was no time to get stitches, and, as it turned out, no hope for the Suns.

“The last time I checked, he’s the MVP of the league,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Of course that makes a difference. That was a tough break for them.”

Perhaps Phoenix still would have lost had Nash been able to play the last 54 seconds. But he was the only Sun to make a shot in the final five minutes, and his teammates were 0-for-6 as he sat on the bench.

Losing him was like having the head of the snake cut off.

If Nash’s freak injury brought back memories of Joe Johnson’s fractured orbital bone, and Amaré Stoudemire missing last year’s postseason, well, those cursed thoughts surely had to be floating through the Suns’ heads as well.

Phoenix was just getting into an offensive rhythm when Nash and Parker butted heads — the Suns had made 4 of 5 shots and were getting easy buckets off their pick-and-roll.

“We definitely needed him because he’s our playmaker,” Stoudemire said. “Without Steve it’s tough.”

Nash’s injury will be the topic du jour around the water cooler — and his bloodied nose will be splattered across newspapers and television highlights — but that doesn’t paint the complete picture of Sunday’s loss.

The Suns could not control Parker, who has become a bigger thorn in their side than Duncan.

Shawn Marion had the defensive assignment on Parker for much of Game 1, and the Spurs’ point guard torched him for 32 points. In addition, because he was running around on the perimeter, Marion only had six rebounds, and the Spurs outrebounded the Suns 49-35.

If Marion can’t cover Parker, the Suns may as well move him back inside to help out on the boards.

At times, the Suns were their own worst enemy. Both Leandro Barbosa and D’Antoni lost their composure and hurt their team.

Barbosa’s bottom line doesn’t look bad — 18 points on 7-of-17 shooting — but there were two key possessions in the fourth quarter when he reverted to his old, wild self and took bad shots.

The first led to a Michael Finley 3-pointer and a 90-88 Spurs lead; the second came with Phoenix trailing 98-97. The Spurs scored on their next possession to take a three-point lead.

“When you go 100 miles per hour, that sometimes happens,” D’Antoni said. “He’ll adjust.”

D’Antoni, meanwhile, went nuts when Stoudemire was called for his third foul late in the first half as he and Duncan fell to the floor chasing a rebound.

It was a bad call and an untimely whistle — the Suns had a 50-44 lead and the ball — but D’Antoni wouldn’t let it go. He was still arguing with referee Bob Delaney as the teams warmed up for the second half, and when assistant Marc Iavaroni followed D’Antoni’s lead and began to complain as well, Delaney hit him with a technical.

It’s one thing to get a technical in the heat of the action. But to get called for one between halves? Let it go, guys.

In his post-game press conference, a bloodied and bandaged Nash called out some of his teammates, saying, “I think some of us just didn’t have the fire it takes to be a world championship team.”

Sorry, Steve. Intensity wasn’t the problem Sunday.

The Suns played hard and, for the most part, they played well.

San Antonio is just that good.

And Phoenix’s luck is just that bad.