Top 5 tandems

[Jimcs50]

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

Shaquille O'Neal's willingness to share the spotlight -- and the ball -- with Dwyane Wade has Miami atop the the East.
Isaac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images
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.

[Useruser666]

Top five poster tandem: Jimcs50 and the guy that posted this article all ready with nearly the same le just below it.

[Jimcs50]

oops

[Tacker]

Funny #1 and 3 are still there after all those years.