What are the five best defensive lineups (points given up per 100 possessions) in the NBA that have played at least 30 games and 300 minutes? Four are the names we hear consistently, but one of them is relatively surprising.

Note: I know not all of these teams are currently active — for example, Rudy Gay was traded to the Raptors, so obviously he doesn’t play for the Grizzlies any more. I have kept any inactive teams for the sake of comparison.

The real question is, which lineup is Lineup A?

Lineup A is Houston’s (0ld) lineup of Asik, Harden, Lin, Morris (yes, I know he was traded), and Parsons.

Think about that for a second. The third best defensive lineup in the NBA (according to points given up per 100 possessions) is a lineup that includes Chandler Parsons, Jeremy Lin, and James Harden — none of whom are even remotely good defenders (granted, Lin does get a ton of steals). I believe the real key to having an elite defensive unit is a dominant big man more than anything else — I mean, just look at that top five list and it is not hard to see that too. Memphis has Gasol, Indiana has Hibbert, Houston has Asik, OKC has Ibaka/Perkins (let’s just ignore Miami for a second here).

Here are your top five defensive lineups that are currently active:

George,Paul – Hibbert,Roy – Hill,George – Stephenson,Lance – West,David (IND)

Durant,Kevin – Ibaka,Serge – Perkins,Kendrick – Sefolosha,Thabo – Westbrook,Russell (OKC) Bosh,Chris – Chalmers,Mario – Haslem,Udonis – James,LeBron – Wade,Dwyane (MIA) Faried,Kenneth – Gallinari,Danilo – Iguodala,Andre – Koufos,Kosta – Lawson,Ty (DEN) And, I kid you not….Barnes,Harrison – Curry,Stephen – Ezeli,Festus – Lee,David – Thompson,Klay (GSW)

Data is from here.