More than Magic, Kareem, and Worthy. More than Bird, McHale, and Parish. More than Jordan, Pippen, and Grant. More than Russell, Cousey, and Jones. More than Mullin, Richmond, and Hardaway.
Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili have won more NBA games as a trio than any of them.
Sunday’s 95-87 road win for the Spurs fittingly came in Boston. It was victory number 541 for the Spurs trio, moving them past the Boston legends Robert Parish, Larry Bird and Kevin McHale on the all-time list. The Spurs trio also has four titles with the three of them playing together (Duncan has a fifth from before those two arrived in San Antonio).
Ginobili had 13 in the game, Parker 10 and Duncan 7. LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with 24. The Spurs won, so you can bet Duncan isn’t worried about the stats.
They should go down as the greatest trio of all time — not just for the wins and titles, but the sustained level of excellence (winning 50 games every year they played together) and adapting their style of play with the league through that time. Gregg Popovich certainly deserves credit in there, too, but he’ll be the first to tell you what he preaches is meaningless if Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili were not so good and bought into what he sold.
The Spurs Twitter account congratulated the trio this way.
HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE! Tim, Tony & Manu just became the Winningest Trio in @NBA history with 541 wins together! pic.twitter.com/x4pRH4O0KS
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) November 1, 2015