10 greatest backcourt duos in NBA history
The NBA has seen tremendous backcourt duos with different styles of play throughout its history. There have been backcourt duos formed by a great passer and an efficient shooter which have worked tremendously, while all-shooting backcourt pairs have dominated the league, as we have seen with the Golden State Warriors.
10 greatest NBA backcourt duos of all time
Backcourt play can usually dictate the rhythm of a team's game and is an essential part of a well-oiled NBA offense.
With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, we have seen that a team driven by a shooting backcourt pair can be successful in the NBA, while the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons also proved the same thing back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
This article will look into the 10 greatest backcourt duos in NBA history.
Without further ado, let us start.
#10 Mark Jackson/Reggie Miller - Indiana Pacers
Mark Jackson is one of the most underrated point guards in the history of the NBA. Not being in the Hall of Fame while having dished out 10,334 assists during his 17-year NBA career is unprecedented (every other member of the 10,000 assists club is in the Hall of Fame) and should be discussed more.
On the other side, Reggie Miller is arguably the greatest shooter and one of the greatest clutch performers in NBA history. Miller carried the Indiana Pacers to 15 playoff appearances in 18 years while averaging 18 points, three rebounds, and three assists per game on 47/40/89 shooting splits.
Jackson played at Indiana for 405 games alongside Miller. In their four playoff appearances together, the Pacers always reached the Eastern Conference Finals and played in one NBA Finals (2000), though they lost to the Shaq-Kobe LA Lakers.
#9 Maurice Cheeks/Andrew Toney - Philadelphia 76ers
When the Philadelphia 76ers drafted Andrew Toney in the 1980 NBA Draft, they put together a great backcourt, with Toney joining Maurice Cheeks.
The team was coming off a defeat in the NBA Finals against Magic Johnson and the LA Lakers. In Toney's first year, they lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, with the rookie averaging 19 points per game in the series, coming off the bench.
In 1982 and 1983, the team made it to the NBA Finals. They first lost in 1982 against LA again (Toney led the team in scoring and Cheeks in assists during the series).
Moses Malone's arrival and Toney earning a starting spot then helped the team win the NBA championship the next year, sweeping the Lakers in the NBA Finals. The duo combined for 37.3 points and 12.1 assists per game in the 1983 NBA Finals.