Los Angeles Lakers: Why Kobe Bryant Is Still the Most Clutch NBA Player

If your looking for the most clutch player in the NBA, look no further than Los Angeles.

It still is, like it has been in the recent past, Kobe Bryant.

If you need proof, just take a look at the past two nights where Bryant combined to score 98 points; including 40 last night in an overtime victory for the Lakers against the Utah Jazz.

So much for that bum wrist.

Superstars get it done in the clutch and no one does it better than Bryant.

Is there still any doubt that he's still the best closer in the NBA?

Just take a look at the roll he's on this season.

He's averaging 30.3 points per game which leads the league, but he's doing it at 33 years old with a lot of wear and tear on his body.

To put what he's doing in perspective, only one player in the last 25 seasons at 33 years or older has more points through their first 12 games. Bernard King scored 371 points during the 1990-91 season.

Also, only one player in his 16th season in the league has come within 100 points of what Kobe has done this season in the last 25 years. That would be Karl Malone's 2001-02 season.

There's been only two 40-point games in the NBA this season, both by Bryant in the last two nights. He also became the first person to score at least 40 on back-to-back night's since Dwyane Wade in 2010.

Yet he still does more than just fill it up on the offensive end as he blocked a shot with 0.7 seconds remaining in overtime.

He may be aging by NBA standards, but he's clearly not ready to pass the torch yet.

When it's clutch time, there's still no one better in the NBA.