PHOENIX (AP-CP) - James Naismith would be proud.
Steve Nash became the first Canadian to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player award on Sunday, one of the biggest honours in the game invented by Naismith, a Canadian.
''It's an incredible oddity in many ways,'' said the Victoria point guard. ''My neighbourhood didn't have any NBA players. I was offered one scholarship. Obviously hockey is the first, second and third story in our country, so to be here is very unlikely.
''At the same time I think that makes it a great accomplishment for me to kind of cherish because there were a lot of obstacles for me just to be a professional basketball player.''
Nash's MVP award is one of the biggest accomplishments in Canadian sport history, vaulting him into a lofty group of Canuck sport stars that includes Mike Weir, Masters champion in 2003, race-car driver Jacques Villeneuve, who won the F1 world championship in 1997, and Larry Walker, who collected National League MVP honours in 1997.
''It's amazing,'' said Nash. ''It's very difficult for me to really get a handle on being mentioned with those tremendous athletes and their accomplishments.''
Nash is just one of two Canadians playing in the NBA - the other is New Orleans centre Jamaal Magloire of Toronto.
Sunday, Nash invited all of his Phoenix Suns teammates up to the podium when he accepted the award at America West Arena.
It was a fitting gesture for a player who earned the trophy by getting everybody involved, and making his team a 62-game winner - 33 more victories than the previous season.
''This has been an incredible year for me and for our team,'' said Nash. ''For me to come to a new situation and be accepted the way I've been by these guys, and for us to be able to form the bond that we have, it's been special.
''I'm just really proud to be part of this team, so thanks fellas,'' said Nash.
The six-foot-three sparkplug guard edged Miami Heat centre Shaquille O'Neal by 34 points to win the award, the fourth-closest margin since the media began determining the winner in 1980-81.
In Miami, it took just 89 seconds of the Heat's first game of the second round of the playoffs against Washington, for the fans to start chanting ''M-V-P!'' in support of Shaq.
Nash is the first player to lead the league in assists (11.5) and be named MVP since Johnson in 1987, and the second Phoenix player to win the award. The other was Charles Barkley in 1993. He's also only the sixth guard to win the award.
Nash was asked what he thought when looked at the names ''Magic, Bird and Shaq, then Steve Nash'' on the MVP list.
''Who does not belong?, I guess'' he joked.
''It's been an unlikely path for me to be an MVP, and many of those MVPs in the past, I had their posters on my wall growing up,'' Nash added. ''So it's amazing to be their peer, and something I can have a laugh at a little bit as well.''
The outcome was first reported Friday, but the official announcement Sunday detailed the balloting by a panel of 127 sports writers and broadcasters in the United States and Canada.
Nash, 31, chosen 15th overall out of Santa Clara in 1996, is the lowest drafted player ever to win the award. Two years after joining the Suns, with Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd playing ahead of him, he asked for a trade and was sent to Dallas. The deal included the draft choice that the Suns used to get Shawn Marion.
Just after last season, the Suns loaded a charter jet with team officials, new owner Robert Sarver, coaches and players and went to Dallas to try to persuade Nash to sign a free agent deal with Phoenix.
''We went there with one purpose and that was to come back with Steve Nash,'' Suns chairman Jerry Colangelo said.
Nash agreed to a five-year, $65 million US contract, and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban didn't match it.
There was no bonus in his contract for winning MVP, but Nash will likely receive financial rewards from his sponsors such as Nike.
Combining the ever-creative Nash with the Suns' array of fleet sharpshooters, and with Amare Stoudemire the perfect target for Nash inside, Phoenix stunned the NBA with a 31-4 start. The camaraderie that developed was evident in the news conference Sunday, when Nash, known for his wardrobe of mostly torn jeans and sweat shirts, was kidded by his teammates about the dress shirt he wore untucked with blue jeans the minute he walked in the room.
''As coaches, we really try to preach team first,'' Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said, ''share the basketball, do whatever it takes to win. ... He made his teammates better, his teammates made him a lot better. Everyone's having career years here, and 62 wins and 20 losses mean something.''
D'Antoni could be on the podium again on Tuesday, when the NBA coach of the year award is announced. The East Valley Tribune of Mesa, citing an NBA source speaking on condition of anonymity, reported Sunday that D'Antoni would win the coach of the year award. Colangelo would not confirm it, but offered a hint by saying he planned to be back on Tuesday.
In the MVP voting, players received 10 points for a first-place vote, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.
Nash received 65 first-place votes to O'Neal's 58. The NBA assist leader at 11.5 a game, Nash is the sixth guard to win the award, joining Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson.