Originally Posted by maximusveritas

According to a poll by the Arizona Republic, this could be the closest MVP race ever. They polled 104 of the 127 voters and found that each player got an equal number of 1st place votes. Nash holds an 875-869 lead over O'Neal overall.

To address some of the comments, it's true that the Suns have struggled without Nash, but to say they suck without him is an overstatement. Still, I agree that the stretch where Nash was injured probably propelled his MVP campaign more than anything he did. He's the captain of the ship and without him they are a bit lost. That oncourt and offcourt leadership may be where Nash has the edge over Shaq.