Dear LeBron: Steve called, he wants his trophy back

For the past two seasons, Wednesday’s matchup between the Suns and Hornets would have been billed as a passing of the torch game.

Steve Nash, three months away from his 36th birthday, pigeonholed as the two-time MVP in the twilight of his career — chasing a ring despite a rapidly closing window.

Chris Paul, the future of the position, building a stronger MVP candidacy every passing year and leading his upstart team to the playoffs and beyond.

My how things can change.

Nash and his revitalized Suns ran the hapless Hornets off the court last night, burying 13 of 26 three point attempts en route to a breezy 124-104 victory. Registering 8 assists in the first quarter alone, Nash only needed to log 22 minutes total in the win, letting backup Goran Dragic drop 14-7-7 on the JV team wearing those New Orleans jerseys.

So who are the real Raptors?

Five games in, we know at least this much about the Toronto Raptors this season:

• They are going to take a lot of threes
• They are going to give up a lot of threes
• If they make more than the other team does, they’re probably going to win
• If they make less than the other team, they’re probably screwed

Basically, the Raptors are the Orlando Magic-lite; and frankly that’s not a bad place to be. The only difference really between the two teams is Orlando has far superior rebounding, which allows for many more chances to launch threes on second and third chance possessions.

With that said, the Raptors walked into New Orleans tonight and won a road game slightly more than the Hornets lost a home game. Just slightly.

Jose Calderon played by far his best game of the year by simply being more aggressive. Instead of turning the corner and depending on his currently-wonky jumper, Calderon looked to push the ball in transition and drive to the net more often. Although this didn’t always result in layups and even ended up with some blocked shots and bad passes, it’s essential for a point guard to put dribble penetration in the mind of his defender. Simply getting into the painted area creates opportunities and cutting lanes for teammates and if Calderon continues to look to get into the lane, he will have plenty of opportunities to shoot himself out of his slump. He’s not all there yet, but there were glimpses of the floor general Toronto fans have been expecting for over a year.