The league’s competitive juices were flowing well before the start of last season. Following Bradley Beal’s bold assertion that he and John Wall were “definitely” the best backcourt in basketball, other competitors for that distinction quickly retorted with confidence of their own.
There’s no such discussion necessary as 2015-16 approaches. The Golden State Warriors not only won a title in June, but Steph Curry was named MVP and Klay Thompson garnered his first All-Star Game appearance. Say what you will about Washington’s tandem or even the Houston Rockets’ high-powered duo of Ty Lawson and James Harden, but the Warriors’ backcourt is the NBA’s best until further notice.
And what’s the attribute that most accounts for the Splash Brothers’ preeminence? Shooting, of course, a consensus reality that recently led Thompson to answer affirmatively when asked by a reporter in China if he and Curry comprised the “best shooting duo” of all-time.
“I think so,” Thompson said. “You know, Steph is one of the best to ever play. I think I’m right there by him. We both led the NBA in 3s, we were No. 1 and 2. I don’t know if that has ever happened on the same team.
“I think we are the best shooting backcourt, maybe of all-time. We still got a lot to prove and I still think we are just scratching the surface of what we can be.”
For the record, no teammates had ever ranked first and second in three-pointers made until Thompson and Curry did so each of the past two seasons. The pair also set new records for the amount of treys made by teammates in 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15, too.
Whether you agree with Thompson or not, his take is certainly supported by the evidence. But are there any tandems throughout league annals who stack up to he and Curry? Or perhaps even surpass them?
Find out below, as we rank the five best shooting duos in NBA history.
5. John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek
Like with all but one sharp-shooting pair on our list, it’s certainly fun to wonder just how much more effective John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek would have been in the modern NBA. Can you imagine these guys firing away from deep at the rate of Curry and Thompson? Just think of how that imminent threat would have opened things up for Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz offense as a whole. Shame.
As it was, though, Stockton and Hornacek were still among the top shooting teammates ever – and inarguably the best of the late 1990s. They each connected on more than 40 percent from beyond the arc in four of their six seasons in Jerry Sloan’s backcourt, and were the models of overall efficiency in general that would leave current league followers mouth-watering.
In 1995-96, Stockton and Hornacek combined to make 199 of 448 tries from long-range, good for a scorching 44.4 percent. But not even that sterling mark did their shooting prowess justice. What does is their 64.2 and 61.9 true shooting percentages, respectively, numbers that not even Curry and Thompson can touch.
There have been more prolific shooting teams and certainly more eye-popping ones, too. When it comes to overall effectiveness, however, not many can top Stockton and Hornacek.
4. Jerry West and Gail Goodrich
Basketball’s most easily forgotten duo of elite scorers is also its most overlooked sets of marksmen. Jerry West and Gail Goodrich didn’t have the luxury of playing with a three-point line, but that didn’t stop them from racking up points with the accuracy of few tandems in league history.
Goodrich returned to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970-71 after a brief stint with the Phoenix Suns, immediately re-establishing his prolific, efficient play of younger days. The reason? A threat like West – not to mention Wilt Chamberlain – playing alongside him. In an era marked by frenetic pace but poor overall shooting numbers, Los Angeles’ guards stuck out like sore thumbs.
Neither player shot below 47.5 percent from the field in 1970-71 nor the Lakers’ historic following season, during the latter of which West and Goodrich combined for a mind-boggling 51.7 points per game. They each made more than 81 percent of their free throws that season, too.
Los Angeles famously won a record 33 consecutive regular season games en route to a championship in 1971-72. Could its streak have been even longer if West and Goodrich played with a three-point line? And if that’s the case, isn’t it possible the 69-13 Lakers could have matched the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ historic 72-10 record? That definitely seems a possibility, but what’s absolutely certain is that West and Goodrich are among the best shooting pairs of all-time.
3. Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond
History remembers “Run TMC” for a wildly entertaining style of play highlighted by Tim Hardaway crossovers more than anything else. But Don Nelson’s famed Golden State Warriors teams of the early 1990s wouldn’t have been successful without the dual-sniping of Chris Mullin and Mitch Richmond.
Unlike those of every other tandem on this list, statistics don’t support the candidacy of Mullin and Richmond. Mullin didn’t become basketball’s premier three-point shooter until after his partner went north to the Sacramento Kings, while Richmond was more a mid-range maven with Golden State than anything else.
To anyone who watched the Warriors play from 1988-89 to 1990-91, though, their deadly synergy was obvious – as indicated by Mullin speaking on Richmond’s behalf during the latter’s Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony in 2014.
2. Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki
This is the only pair on our list that features players who each have a legitimate claim to being the greatest shooter of all-time. The Steve Nash-Dirk Nowitzki Dallas Mavericks played like it, too: They ranked first in offensive rating in 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04, and fourth and seventh the two years prior.
You already know the resumés of Nash and Nowitzki. Until Curry took the league by storm recently, the former was almost universally considered the game’s best ever combination of shooting and passing. And while the latter is hardly the perennial MVP candidate of the late 2000s, he still ranks among the most influential big men in the league offensively, a reality owed to his unsurpassed shooting ability at 7-foot.
What’s the scariest part about Nash and Nowitzki as teammates? They they never quite took advantage of their simultaneous prowess from three-point land. The most long-range attempts for which the notoriously close friends ever combined was a measly 8.6. Curry, meanwhile, beat that number by himself last postseason by nearly three full tries.
Watching Nash and Nowitzki play together was basketball poetry. And while the Seven Seconds Or Less Phoenix Suns will rightfully be remembered forever, it’s extremely intriguing to consider just how much more dominant the Mavericks would have been if Mark Cuban had opened his checkbook to keep the eventual two-time MVP winner with Nowitzki in Dallas.
1. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson
Were you really expecting anyone else? The only argument against Curry and Thompson is longevity. Even that one doesn’t hold weight, however, considering their four years in the Bay is more time spent together than that of multiple other pairs on our list.
They win the eye-test. They win the statistical battle. They win the record books. Most importantly, they’ve already won a championship.
The only question left for the Splash Brothers is where they go from here. And if recent history is any indication, it will be yet another place of shooting abundance and accuracy that the basketball world has never seen before.
[Via CBS Sports]
