For Steve Nash, it is always San Antonio. Six times his teams have played the Spurs in the playoffs; six times his season has ended at their hands. If Sisyphus was endlessly rolling a basketball up that hill rather than a stone, he would be Steve Nash, and the hill would be located a couple hours north of Corpus Christi and the Gulf of Mexico.

And here he is again. Canada's greatest basketball player is 36 now, with a tricky back and a hip that had him hobbling through Game 6 against Portland in the first round, but he is the same dominant player he has been for the last six years. And after your basic 33-point, 10-assist performance on Monday night, his Phoenix Suns are up 1-0 on the Spurs in the second round of the NBA playoffs. For now.