NBA

The 10 Best NBA Playoff Trios Since 2001

Brett Oswalt  —  @bRo14thekid May 10th, 2017
Where do the memorable Big Threes fall when looking at recent playoff history?

In recent years, we've seen a rise in players joining forces to build a dynamic Big Three. Obviously, those superstars were the cornerstones of their teams and playoff successes, but do any of them -- even one -- rank in the top three playoff lineups of recent history?

It probably sounds insane, but the answer is no. If you're wondering how this could actually be possible, here's how we arrived at the top-10 three-man lineups in the last 16 NBA postseasons.

First and foremost, the prerequisites are that a trio played at least 100 minutes together and posted a net rating (points minus opponent points) of 20 or more per 100 possessions. In sorting via those two qualifications, we arrived at a list of exactly 99 three-man teams, dating back to the 2000-01 playoffs (as far back as Basketball Reference's data goes).

Ranking those 99 squads is simple -- the higher the net rating the higher the ranking, and vice versa.

By this process, which postseason trio has been the best?

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