http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_7290141
Terrific twosome
Utah Jazz: Duncan, Parker still quite a pair
Williams, Boozer are not yet at the same level as their counterparts in San Antonio
By Steve Luhm
The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah's Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer are the best young point guard-forward combination in the NBA.
For a while longer, however, the best 1-2 punch in the game is still thriving in San Antonio.
This week, the Spurs' Tony Parker and Tim Duncan begin their seventh season as teammates. In that span, they have made San Antonio a perennial 50-win contender and carried the Spurs to a pair of championships.
If Utah's John Stockton and Karl Malone were the NBA's best point guard-power forward combination during the 1990s, Parker and Duncan have taken the baton from them and proudly ran on with it.
Why has their partnership worked so well?
"Both of them are so versatile," said veteran Jazz center Jarron Collins.
Utah coach Jerry Sloan compares the ability of Parker and Duncan to simplify the game to the way Stockton and Malone played during their 18 seasons together in Utah.
Said Sloan: "I remember what John always said that he had a very good receiver. [Parker] has a good receiver, too. . . . San Antonio has a good guy to pass the ball and a good guy to catch it. That makes it kind of simple, doesn't it?"
As the 28th pick in the first round of the 2001 draft, Parker wasn't an immediate star in the NBA. His development is what has made his partnership with Duncan one-of-a-kind.
"He's worked on his shot," Sloan said, "and the guy can get on top of the basket. You know, he's a fearless guy, and guys who are fearless can get on top of the basket. That's tougher to do than people realize. But he makes it look easy because he's clever, talented and tough."
Collins agrees.
"Tony Parker does an excellent job for them," he said. "Most people might not know it, but he consistently leads the league in [field-goal] attempts in the key. . . . He has a knack for driving and slashing to the basket. And his jump shot, he has worked on it and improved it."
Still, Duncan's longevity, consistency and dominance on the defensive end has been the key to the success of the Spurs' dynamic duo.
"It all starts with him," Collins said. "Tim is one of the best power forwards to ever play the game . . . and they have the championships to back it up. With all their experience, talent and success, Tony and Tim are the best and will be until someone goes out and beats them."
Said Jazz vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor: "Great players, in order to be classified in that category, have to pass the test of time. Guys who make the Hall of Fame - guys who we talk about as having successful careers - they have done it for years. Those two guys have done it consistently for a long time, and they've won."
Among the emerging point guard-power forward twosomes that might replace Parker and Duncan as the NBA's best are Toronto's T.J. Ford and Chris Bosh, Charlotte's Raymond Felton and Emeka Okafor, Minnesota's Randy Foye and Al Jefferson and New Orleans' Chris Paul and David West.
None of them, however, seem to have the potential of Utah's Williams and Boozer.
"Deron is special because of his ability to dish the ball, create shots for his teammates and, when it's needed, take over a ballgame," Collins said. "That's what he did in the playoffs for us last year."
And Boozer?
"He has such a great ability to score and rebound," Collins said. "There are guys who are just walking double-doubles, and he's one of them."
Pts. Rebs. Asts.
2001-02
Tim Duncan 25.5 12.7 3.7
Tony Parker 9.2 2.6 4.3
2002-03
Tim Duncan 23.3 12.9 3.9
Tony Parker 15.5 2.6 5.3
2003-04
Tim Duncan 22.3 12.9 3.9
Tony Parker 14.7 3.2 5.5
2004-05
Tim Duncan 20.3 11.1 2.7
Tony Parker 16.6 3.7 6.1
2005-06
Tim Duncan 18.6 11.0 3.2
Tony Parker 18.9 3.3 5.8
2006-07
Tim Duncan 20.0 10.6 3.4
Tony Parker 18.6 3.2 5.5
What an understatement. Since 2001-02, the Spurs have won at least 57 games every season and the Parker/Duncan combo has worked for 3 les, not "a pair." I could see saying that Parker and Duncan have only carried the Spurs to 2 les -- though I think that would be historically inaccurate, too, since Parker had a bunch of huge games during the 2003, 2005 and 2007 playoffs.
The Spurs don't really have a 1-2 Punch. It's either a 1-2-3 Punch or a 1-2A and 1-2B punch.
It's funny to me that after the 2005 championship, the media acted like Ginobili is a basketball God and that Parker didn't exist. Now after the 2007 championship, Parker is getting most of the glory that had gone to Ginobili.
The truth is Parker and Ginobili are almost the exact same level of player. Per minute, I'd say Ginobili is better. Overall impact, I'd give a slight edge to Parker just because he plays more minutes.
Manu for some reason is a forgotten man if you read national NBA publications. A small part of that he brought upon himself for having a few stretches of inactivity during the 2007 playoffs, but it's largely unfair. Ginobili is a great player and when it's winning time, I don't think there are more than just a couple other guards I'd rather have on my side.
If the preseason is any indication, Manu is going to make people remember him this year.
I certainly agree with that and had written a diatribe about how studying Duncan's les is actually a testament to his true greatness because he's done it with a fairly-dominant second banana in David Robinson, with a team that didn't have a real second banana, with a team who's second banana was an All-Star wing in Manu Ginobili, and with a team who's second banana was an All-Star point in Tony Parker. Few of the very greatest players in NBA history have ever had to deal with that sort of shuffling of the deck from le-to- le, but Duncan has done it and has done it seamlessly, for the most part.
Within the scope of the column, however, my point was that if you were to consider Parker to be the #2 of the 1-2 punch, you can't discount Tony's contributions in 2003 and say that he and Duncan have only made a difference together in 2 le runs. Tony has clearly made a difference for the Spurs in each of the 3 le runs in which he's participated, even if that difference hasn't always been a huge positive for the Spurs in the biggest of big games.
I also think the comparison to Stockton and Malone is a bit of a stretch in some ways.
Agreed.
Parker had big games in each of his three championships. He's gotten progressively better but he was already pretty darn good in 2003. People forget what he did in 2003 and also somewhat in 2005 because of how he didn't score much in the championship clinching games. Now in 2007 he had a big finish and everyone thinks he's some newfound star. The truth is actually that he's been good the whole time, he just took a new step during last year's playoffs.
Also true. Those Jazz teams ran pick and roll offense constantly, which made their offense rely almost solely on that duo to produce. The Spurs' motion offense gets everyone involved and there's rarely a point that it becomes a two-man game.
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