The Brooklyn Nets are led by a coach who has a historic resume. Steve Nash was a two time NBA MVP in both 2005 and 2006 and he was runner up to a former teammate of his Dirk Nowitzki for what would have been a third consecutive MVP award. It's fitting then he's presiding over a backcourt as turbocharged as Brooklyn's featuring James Harden and Kyrie Irving. But it was the floor general on the other side of the ball Tuesday night, Chris Paul, who had coach Nash's full and undivided attention.

But before the game, Nash allowed himself to get a bit nostalgic, reflecting on his days with the Phoenix Suns.

“Yeah, of course, this is a very very special place for me,” said the Nets coach. “The community, somewhere I lived for ten years. The team, having played for them for ten years. Sometimes you forget life moves fast, then when you come back you realize ‘you know wow, I've spent a lot of time here and a lot of incredible years and worked with incredible people so it means a lot to me and it's always nice to come back and to kinda feel the vibe of the valley again.”

But then the Nets boss was asked about slowing down one of the best players in history. Paul is in the midst of another All-NBA campaign at the ripe age of 36. He's already an 11-time All-Star and 10-time All-NBA player with nine All-Defensive team honors. He's only adding to that list of accolades this season.

What makes Chris Paul so tough?

“Well there's not a lot of things you can do to stop him,” admitted Nash. “He's a master of his craft. He just has such an incredible IQ and his ability to read the game on top of his skills. So I think he's playing at a very, very elite level still at this stage in his career is a testament again to his passion and dedication and competitive spirit so he's definitely someone that is playing well ahead of the years on his resume and is continuing to I think finding ways to impact the game through his intelligence and skill level that are historic in a way not many players have been able to have the impact that he has at this stage of his career.”

Nash was right to fear The Point God. The Nets couldn't slow him down. The Suns are the reigning Western Conference Champions and this season they're proving their Finals run last season was no fluke as they're now the hottest team in the NBA notching 11 consecutive wins. They broke a franchise record 17 consecutive wins (set in part by Steve Nash's Suns during the '06-'07 season). This team is on some kind of roll.

Paul dropped 20 points, to go with 14 dimes, and two steals over the Nets. He's leading the NBA in assists, (10.3 per game) ranking just ahead of Harden (10.1) in that category.

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“That’s a high level team playing the best basketball in the league, a lot of momentum on their home court, great crowd… we matched them for large stretches,” said Nash. “So, we are getting better. We’ve got to sustain longer periods of concentration. We came up short tonight. But again, we’re growing and we’re moving in the right direction.”

It was the battle of elite backcourts as Paul's running mate Devin Booker led all scorers with 35 points. The Nets duo held their own, but it wasn't enough.

The good news for Brooklyn was that they hung with the best team in the league despite not having their own top gun in Kevin Durant. Had KD been healthy and available, the Nets would have looked quite different. But they may want to look for some upgrades at the Feb. 10 Trade Deadline, because if Tuesday was a finals preview, the Nets look a little light on perimeter stoppers. We looked at the Nets biggest need with that key trade date in mind. These two teams could certainly meet again down the road, even though there's nothing yet on the schedule.