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"That pass was bad" – Grant Hill claims Steve Nash always took the blame to protect his teammates
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- "That pass was bad" – Grant Hill claims Steve Nash always took the blame to protect his teammates
As crucial as basketball talent and abilities are to a player's chances of success in the NBA, confidence and rhythm also play significant roles.
The game's great point guards are aware of how confidence can dictate a player's performance. And according to Grant Hill , it is for that reason that Steve Nash always protected his teammates' morale, going as far as to own up to a mistake even when it wasn't his to begin with.
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Nash held himself accountable at all times
Hill got a chance to play with Nash towards the latter part of his career. By then, he had gone from being the man to becoming a 3-and-D guy, tasked with playing aggressive perimeter defense and knocking down open 3-pointers. And one of Nash's favorite targets was Hill, who made 35.4 percent of his triples in the five seasons that he played with the Canadian floor general
However, there were also moments that Hill would miss the shot even if Nash made a picture-perfect pass to his shooting pocket. But before he could acknowledge his miss, Hill was already there, apologizing for what he deemed was a subpar pass.
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"He'd come to you if you missed the shot, make it seem like it was a bad pass. He's like, 'My fault, man. That pass was bad.' I'm like, 'No, I just missed,'" Hill recalled . "He had a way to endear himself to his teammates, in part because he was so unselfish."
Hill remembered there was also a game against Vince Carter, when the latter just couldn't miss despite his best defensive efforts. He remembered a lull in the game when Nash approached him to apologize for not offering enough help on defense.
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Unselfish to a fault
Hill emphasized that Nash was so unselfish that it worked against them, especially against a savvy team like the San Antonio Spurs, who were aware of his preference to get his teammates going before even looking at the rim.
"Steve really did not want to shoot. And before Stephen Curry, you can make an argument that he was the best shooting point guard in the NBA, man," Hill said. "Sometimes it was to our detriment because when we played San Antonio, they wouldn't help off the guys on the wings."
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"They basically made him shoot, daring him to shoot the ball. And so he would come to the huddles like, 'I'm sorry, guys.' We're like, 'No, shoot it. Like, we need you to shoot in order to win,'" he continued. "And he did not want to do that."
That was indeed quintessential Nash — a player who begrudgingly scored 48 points on 20-for-28 shooting against his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, in the 2005 NBA Playoffs. To him, as the point guard, it sure felt awful to shoot that many times and score that many points.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Nov 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
