The Twin Towers

Kevin McHale (far left) and the skying Robert Parish are Boston's biggies, as are Los Angeles' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mitch Kupchak.

If guards can be 6'8", and small forwards 6'9", is it any wonder that the last two NBA champions—the Lakers and Celtics—often used two guys in tandem who were 7 feet or close to it? Or that three of last spring's final four did, too? Where do two 7-footers play, you ask? Anywhere they want to.

Sixers Caldwell Jones and Darryl Dawkins have a big net effect (left); the Artis Gilmore and Dwight Jones combo made the Bulls winners; Moses Malone and Billy Paultz took the Rockets to the '81 NBA finals.

Since 7'2" Wilt Chamberlain and 6'11" Nate Thurmond teamed up in San Francisco in 1963-64, coaches have sought the perfect tall tandem, because, reasons the 76ers' Billy Cunningham, "It makes more sense to use two capable 7-footers than a capable 7-footer and a capable forward who is 6'6"."