Steve Nash scored 10 of his 20 points while his eye gradually shut more and more in the fourth, and the Phoenix Suns swept the San Antonio Spurs from the Western Conference semifinals with a 107-101 win Sunday night.

It was long-awaited redemption for the Suns, who have had their championship dreams killed by the Spurs in the playoffs four times since 2003.

Nash was accidentally struck by one of Tim Duncan’s elbows in the third quarter and briefly went to the locker room.

He came back with an ice pack on his eye when he finally returned to the court. Even then, it wasn’t back into the game right away — first he lay on the court with the ice still on his head.

Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 29 points. He is the only Suns player who suffered each playoff defeat at the hands of the Spurs over the last seven years, but instead of celebrating, he walked off the court like it was just another regular season game.

The Suns know they still have work to do.

They’ll take on either the Los Angeles Lakers or the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers are up in that series 3-0. No team in NBA playoff history has ever come back from that deficit to win; including this year’s Spurs.

The Suns are keeping one of the more amazing stories of the playoffs going. Three months after Phoenix was on the brink of trading Stoudemire and calling it a season, the Suns are returning to the West Conference Finals for the first time since 2006 and attempting to make a return to their first NBA Finals since 1993.

Get your favorite team hats here!

Popularity: 6% [?]