With Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in town tonight for the first time this season, the temptation is to try.

But luring John Stockton into a conversation about best basketball tandems is as fruitless as a carnivorous diet.
     
Stockton ? the point-guard half, along with power forward Karl Malone, of a dynamic duo that ranks as the NBA's runaway career assists leader and No. 2 all-time scorer ? just won't go there.
     
"I think great players make other guys better, so, yes, playing with Karl has made all of us better ? given us more looks at open shots, enhanced all our skills," Stockton says. "And that's what a team is."
     
But two players alone, Stockton insists, do not make a team. It takes five on the floor playing together, and a bench full of willing reserves ? and on that subject, this 40-year-old is most adamant.