MaNuMaNiAc
02-01-2005, 12:14 PM
In a clear indication that time does indeed march on, the Detroit Pistons play the Indiana Pacers tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse, and hardly a word has been written about the fateful night of Nov. 19 when those teams engaged in the frightful melee at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Rather, the focus is on two potential powerhouse teams still struggling to put it all together.
Key to those efforts are the tandems that drive the teams: the backcourt of Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton for the Pistons, and the backcourt-frontcourt combo of Jamaal Tinsley and Jermaine O'Neal for the Pacers.
By the end of last season, the Billups-Hamilton duo was clearly more effective than the infinitely more celebrated tandem of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles. But this year, despite the fact that both Billups and Hamilton have been healthy, they've been unable to replicate the success the Pistons had in June.
And while the Pacers duo has helped keep Indy afloat this season without the services of Ron Artest, lost for the season for his role in the melee, would we even be talking about Tinsley if Artest were still playing? Artest and O'Neal would be Indy's top tandem. And, for that matter, now that Stephen Jackson is back from his suspension, perhaps he and O'Neal will be the 1-2 punch that fuels the Pacers.
But it's an interesting question, this tandem thing. Boston thought it had a winner in the Paul Pierce-Antoine Walker combo but it got the Celtics nowhere. Philadelphia has tried various No. 2's to fit in with Allen Iverson but none has worked. One would think that the inside-outside duo of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in Houston would be among the best in the league. But they just haven't figured out a way to put it all together yet. Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson could be a top tandem in New Jersey, but there's no way to tell until next season when Jefferson returns from an injury. (If Kidd is still a Net, that is.) I'd like to come up with an adequate Sundance for LeBron James' Butch in Cleveland but who is it? The LeBron James-Zydrunas Ilgauskas Show just doesn't make it.
Anyway, for this week's five-pack, let's examine the league's five top one-two punches, and, further, just what goes into making a successful tandem. I'm not going purely by statistics -- as I see it, two high scorers do not necessarily a tandem make.
In reverse order:
5. Billups and Hamilton, Detroit
These guys don't represent a classic backcourt combo, Billups being more of an all-purpose guard than a true point. But when they put it together, as they did in the Finals against the Lakers, they're as good as anyone. Hamilton could give a clinic on the subject of getting free on screens, and Billups, when so inclined, can find him, or create space for his own shot. To this point they haven't put together the magic of last June but there's still time.
4. Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley, Dallas
This is hardly a classic tandem. Neither is the team's chief ball-handler (it's tough figuring who is the chief distributor on the Mavericks, which has a shooting guard, Jason Terry, at the point most of the time), and, as scoring forwards, they seem like versions of the same thing rather than complementary pieces. But neither would be as good without the other. Nowitzki and Finley aren't high-assist guys, but they both do an excellent job of finding each other and are a successful tandem at running the pick-and-roll because they can both step back for the jumper or take it to the hoop.
Of course, Steve Nash was an even better fit for Nowitzki, but that's another story.
3. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, San Antonio
This is a difficult one, not because they're not a good fit for each other but because point guard Tony Parker might also figure into the mix; he and Duncan, after all, represent a far more traditional tandem.
But I'm going with the Argentinean swingman as Duncan's chief playmate. Ginobili's slashing creates space for Duncan; Ginobili is a better perimeter shooter than Parker (who shoots only about 27 percent of his 3-point attempts whereas Ginobili shoots close to 40 percent) and Ginobili's generally unpredictable, crazy-guy style is a terrific contrast to Duncan's controlled, fundamental excellence.
2. Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade, Miami
This tandem doesn't rate so high just because Shaq had begun advertising their tea-for-two brilliance even before he and Wade had run a play together. But they've earned this spot. First of all, Wade, that rare young player who can't be classified as pure point guard or pure shooting guard, has an incredibly quick first step going to the hoop; that means, invariably, interior defenders are going to have to step up and stop him and that leaves Shaq alone. Second, Wade is a gifted passer who knows how to get the ball to Shaq, and, third, Wade's skill in pushing the ball has prompted O'Neal to get out and run the floor from time to time, and there's no more frightening sight to a defense than 7-feet, 1-inch of 340-pound center loose on the open floor. Most of all, though, Wade has rejuvenated Shaq, and provided him a sidekick in his crusade to show the Lakers they were wrong to let him go.
1. Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix
The highest-scoring combo on the league's highest-scoring team is actually Stoudemire and Shawn Marion, who rank third in the league behind O'Neal-Wade and Nowitzki-Finley. But the Nash-Stoudemire pick is a no-brainer. No player in recent memory has been so aided and abetted by the arrival of a single player as Stoudemire has by the arrival of Nash. One stat geek, in fact, determined that Stoudemire -- who is averaging five more points per game than he did last season -- is a 30 percent shooter when Nash is not in the game and a 60 percent shooter when he is.
This works both ways, of course. Nash formed a great tandem with Nowitzki during their years together in Dallas, but in Stoudemire he has an open-court player with great hands. During a 113-105 victory over New Jersey last Sunday, Nash made the best pass I've seen in years. Running full-tilt on a fast break, he left-handed a lead bounce pass to Stoudemire, who was racing to fill a lane on the left side. Only someone with Nash's accuracy on the move could've made the pass and only someone of Stoudemire's athleticism could've gathered it up in stride for the dunk. More to the point, Stoudemire fully expected the pass. He and Nash, at this point, define the essence of a terrific tandem.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/jack_mccallum/01/27/top.five.cont/index.html
Key to those efforts are the tandems that drive the teams: the backcourt of Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton for the Pistons, and the backcourt-frontcourt combo of Jamaal Tinsley and Jermaine O'Neal for the Pacers.
By the end of last season, the Billups-Hamilton duo was clearly more effective than the infinitely more celebrated tandem of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles. But this year, despite the fact that both Billups and Hamilton have been healthy, they've been unable to replicate the success the Pistons had in June.
And while the Pacers duo has helped keep Indy afloat this season without the services of Ron Artest, lost for the season for his role in the melee, would we even be talking about Tinsley if Artest were still playing? Artest and O'Neal would be Indy's top tandem. And, for that matter, now that Stephen Jackson is back from his suspension, perhaps he and O'Neal will be the 1-2 punch that fuels the Pacers.
But it's an interesting question, this tandem thing. Boston thought it had a winner in the Paul Pierce-Antoine Walker combo but it got the Celtics nowhere. Philadelphia has tried various No. 2's to fit in with Allen Iverson but none has worked. One would think that the inside-outside duo of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in Houston would be among the best in the league. But they just haven't figured out a way to put it all together yet. Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson could be a top tandem in New Jersey, but there's no way to tell until next season when Jefferson returns from an injury. (If Kidd is still a Net, that is.) I'd like to come up with an adequate Sundance for LeBron James' Butch in Cleveland but who is it? The LeBron James-Zydrunas Ilgauskas Show just doesn't make it.
Anyway, for this week's five-pack, let's examine the league's five top one-two punches, and, further, just what goes into making a successful tandem. I'm not going purely by statistics -- as I see it, two high scorers do not necessarily a tandem make.
In reverse order:
5. Billups and Hamilton, Detroit
These guys don't represent a classic backcourt combo, Billups being more of an all-purpose guard than a true point. But when they put it together, as they did in the Finals against the Lakers, they're as good as anyone. Hamilton could give a clinic on the subject of getting free on screens, and Billups, when so inclined, can find him, or create space for his own shot. To this point they haven't put together the magic of last June but there's still time.
4. Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley, Dallas
This is hardly a classic tandem. Neither is the team's chief ball-handler (it's tough figuring who is the chief distributor on the Mavericks, which has a shooting guard, Jason Terry, at the point most of the time), and, as scoring forwards, they seem like versions of the same thing rather than complementary pieces. But neither would be as good without the other. Nowitzki and Finley aren't high-assist guys, but they both do an excellent job of finding each other and are a successful tandem at running the pick-and-roll because they can both step back for the jumper or take it to the hoop.
Of course, Steve Nash was an even better fit for Nowitzki, but that's another story.
3. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, San Antonio
This is a difficult one, not because they're not a good fit for each other but because point guard Tony Parker might also figure into the mix; he and Duncan, after all, represent a far more traditional tandem.
But I'm going with the Argentinean swingman as Duncan's chief playmate. Ginobili's slashing creates space for Duncan; Ginobili is a better perimeter shooter than Parker (who shoots only about 27 percent of his 3-point attempts whereas Ginobili shoots close to 40 percent) and Ginobili's generally unpredictable, crazy-guy style is a terrific contrast to Duncan's controlled, fundamental excellence.
2. Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade, Miami
This tandem doesn't rate so high just because Shaq had begun advertising their tea-for-two brilliance even before he and Wade had run a play together. But they've earned this spot. First of all, Wade, that rare young player who can't be classified as pure point guard or pure shooting guard, has an incredibly quick first step going to the hoop; that means, invariably, interior defenders are going to have to step up and stop him and that leaves Shaq alone. Second, Wade is a gifted passer who knows how to get the ball to Shaq, and, third, Wade's skill in pushing the ball has prompted O'Neal to get out and run the floor from time to time, and there's no more frightening sight to a defense than 7-feet, 1-inch of 340-pound center loose on the open floor. Most of all, though, Wade has rejuvenated Shaq, and provided him a sidekick in his crusade to show the Lakers they were wrong to let him go.
1. Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix
The highest-scoring combo on the league's highest-scoring team is actually Stoudemire and Shawn Marion, who rank third in the league behind O'Neal-Wade and Nowitzki-Finley. But the Nash-Stoudemire pick is a no-brainer. No player in recent memory has been so aided and abetted by the arrival of a single player as Stoudemire has by the arrival of Nash. One stat geek, in fact, determined that Stoudemire -- who is averaging five more points per game than he did last season -- is a 30 percent shooter when Nash is not in the game and a 60 percent shooter when he is.
This works both ways, of course. Nash formed a great tandem with Nowitzki during their years together in Dallas, but in Stoudemire he has an open-court player with great hands. During a 113-105 victory over New Jersey last Sunday, Nash made the best pass I've seen in years. Running full-tilt on a fast break, he left-handed a lead bounce pass to Stoudemire, who was racing to fill a lane on the left side. Only someone with Nash's accuracy on the move could've made the pass and only someone of Stoudemire's athleticism could've gathered it up in stride for the dunk. More to the point, Stoudemire fully expected the pass. He and Nash, at this point, define the essence of a terrific tandem.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/jack_mccallum/01/27/top.five.cont/index.html