Is it really possible that aa three-time NBA All-Star, three-time NBA champion,  and NBA Finals MVP can have a breakout season?

You can if you’re Tony Parker, the 6-2 point guard for the San Antonio Spurs.

You could call this Tony Parker’s breakout season and you wouldn’t get much of an argument around the league.  The speedy Frenchman led the San Antonio Spurs with a career-best 22 points per game during the regular season and was still able to pass for career-high assists (6.9), but even those numbers don’t fully explain the important role Parker has played for the 2008-09 San Antonio Spurs.

Parker has added several highlights to his already-impressive resume.

• Tony Parker scored a career high 55 points (as well as 10 assists and 7 rebounds) in a 129-125 win over Minnesota.
• Registered 15 double-doubles (points + assists) this season alone, Parker had a total of 15 double-doubles his three previous seasons.
• Parker had a stretch of games where he scored 21+ points in 10 straight games, the highest scoring stretch of games in his career.
• Parker scored 37 points and 39 points against Dallas and Portland in back-to-back wins in February.
• Of Parker’s top-ten scoring games in his eight-year career, six of them came during the 2008-09 season (see below)

1. 55 vs. MIN (11-05-2008)
2. 42 vs. ATL (03-25-2009)
3. 39 vs. POR (02-25-2009)
4. 38 vs. MIA (01-20-2006)
5. 37 vs. DAL (02-24-2009)
6. 37 vs. DAL (03-04-2009)
7. 36 vs. MIN (12-23-2008)
8. 35 vs. GSW (04-10-2005)
9. 35 vs. PHO (04-05-2007)
10. 33 vs NYK (11-11-2006)

And Parker accomplished all this even though he missed eleven games this season.

Head of the Snake
It’s slowly progressed this direction all season, you could even say it’s been moving this direction for the last several years.  With the momentum of Parker dashing into the lane for another layup, there is no stopping it; the San Antonio Spurs are now Tony Parker’s team.

In no other season could one have made such a proclamation with this much certainty.  With Tim Duncan showing the effects of aging (he turns 33 in a couple of days) and Manu Ginobili slowed by injuries, Parker has factored much larger in the Spur’s success.

The 2008-09 NBA season saw Manu Ginobili miss 38 games; the 31-year old superstar from Argentina will also miss the remainder of the 2009 NBA Playoffs.  And though Duncan is still pulling in a double-double nightly; his points, rebounds, and blocks are at or near career lows.

With the two older Spurs stars regressing, the third part of the San Antonio trinity is shining brighter than ever. In addition to Parker’s career high averages in points and assists this season, the Spurs are 22-5 this season when the 26-year old scores in double digits and passes for eight or more assists in game.  He led the Spurs to best record in the Southwest division this season.

His 38 points in game two of the Spur’s first round matchup with the Mavericks has become the focus of the Dallas defense.  The same defense that gave up 31.3 points Parker in four games between the two teams during the regular season.

“Every time he drives the lane, we have to put him on his back,” Dallas center Erick Dampier told The Dallas Morning News. “The first foul has to tell him he’s in for a long night. My first foul Thursday night is going to put him on his back. I guarantee it.”

“We’re going to have to adjust our game plan and really hone in on him,” Terry said. “He’s the head of the snake, so we got to make somebody else beat us.”

Translation: It’s Tony Parker’s team.

Links and Resources: Tony Parker has been unstoppable (Interbasket), Tony Parker scores career-high in Spurs first win (Interbasket), Tony Parker’s evolution into team leader (WOAI)