The backcourt is back
by Jesse Blanchard
48 Minutes of

The last time the San Antonio Spurs were consistently mentioned among the list of top backcourts in the NBA, Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton were still a relevant tandem. Coincidentally, it also happened to be the last time the Spurs won an NBA le.

Mostly due to injuries, and the casual fan’s reluctance to embrace the per minute brilliance of hated-but-always-feared Manu Ginobili, it’s been far too easy to forget how good the San Antonio Spurs backcourt is. There might be a handful of teams with a better point guard than Tony Parker, an even smaller number of teams with a better shooting guard, but how many boast a backcourt as dynamic as the Spurs starting guards?

Last year much was made of head coach Gregg Popovich’s plans to hand the keys to the offense over to Parker, but injuries and, later, the reemergence of Manu Ginobili as an elite player quickly derailed those thoughts.

A year delayed, those plans are finally coming to fruition as the San Antonio Spurs offense has exploded with over 108 points per game, good for second in the league behind the Los Angeles Lakers (courtesy of NBA.com). The San Antonio Spurs are off to one of the quickest starts in franchise history, and they’re accomplishing it despite a slow start from franchise cornerstone Tim Duncan.

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