Timm I love good defense because it is much more difficult than offense. Defense flat out kills your legs. It is horribly difficult to actually play big minutes if one really puts out on defense. You have to rest, have to.

It is not easy to see, but teams that play good help defense is a thing of beauty. Dunks, shooting, crossovers, those are so easy for these guys. Seeing the entire court like Nash and having a perfect sense of figures in motion in 3-D. Very difficult. Playing good hard defense, quick hands, quick feet, no quads left after 4 minutes... underappreciated and never mentioned.
And its not all about steals and blocks. Its just pestering the crud out of your opponent for 48 minutes. Little ball tip to disturb (not necessarily steal) a dribble and get in a guy's head. A little deflection of a pass so it is off course to a wide open shooter who is unable to get the shot because of the deflection. This stuff almost never gets mentioned. And I love it, the pervert that I am. So because of Nash and his bipolar play, it brings out the bipolar statements. He is not as awful on defense as he is good on offense.

And I clearly understand why people do not like the Spurs. They win in an NBA that advertises flash over substance. Individual over team.