Learn Russian: После саммита они оказали нам огромную поддержку. - After the summit, they provided us with huge support.

Using a formal analytical predicate (a noun-verb combination) like оказать поддержку instead of the simple verb поддержать sounds more official and professional. You will often see this in news, business, and politics. It also makes it much easier to attach descriptive adjectives, like огромную (huge), directly to the core action.

If I used the regular verb поддержать, would I still use the dative pronoun нам?

No. The standard verb поддержать takes a direct object in the accusative case (они поддержали нас). However, in this formal construction, the light verb оказать takes the accusative for the noun (поддержку) and the dative for the receiver of the action (нам). This shift in cases is a crucial detail to remember when substituting simple verbs with these phrases.

Can I use a simpler verb like дали (gave) instead of оказали?

No, these formal phrases are fixed collocations, meaning you cannot mix and match the verbs. Оказать (which translates roughly to 'render' or 'exert') is the mandatory partner verb for поддержка (support), just as it is for помощь (help), влияние (influence), and давление (pressure).

Why is the perfective verb оказали used here instead of the imperfective оказывали?