Nash’s teammates warmed up the crowd for his dramatic entrance.
(Stefan Swiat/Suns.com)
The best moment of the trip was when the players were waiting on the bus for Nash as he was finishing speaking to a group of children after the completion of the game. The bus was parked about 15 feet away from the exit of the arena and there was a barricade on each side holding a ton of fans back from the players as they attempted to board the bus.
As the players passed by the crowd, they thought Nash was right behind them so they simply high-fived the fans and hopped on the bus. They thought their nights were over.
While the players all relaxed on the bus, crowd-pleaser Jared Dudley signed autographs as the fans patiently waited for the hometown hero.
Jared and I waited by the door of the bus so we could take photos of Nash as he came out of the arena. JD decided it would be a good idea to get the crowd going by telling them to start chanting, “We want Nash.”
With no sign of Nash, the crowd started yelling for Amar’e Stoudemire, who was sitting way in the back of the bus. The ever-gregarious STAT emerged from bus to the crowd’s delight. Check out Jared’s video here.
The crowd, realizing that it could manipulate the easy-going Suns, started hollering for Grant Hill. In an unprecedented entrance, G-Hill leapt from the bus and began playing to the crowd like a rock star. See video here.
The crowd, effectively warmed up, was caught by surprise by their native son, who dashed right by all of them and onto the bus. The crowd, not believing what just occurred, would quickly realize that Steve was just giving them a pump-fake for a comedic effect. Check out “Stevemania” here.
He went around to both sides signing autographs before the fans lured Jared off the bus for the grand finale. As JD jumped off the bus, he attempted to hug the entire crowd. It was kind of like he started his own mosh pit against everyone else, but somehow won.
Don’t worry though, no civilians were injured during “Stevemania.”
