Ranking the Worst Clutch Performers in the NBA

The Heat may have been one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference this season, but when it comes to being clutch, are they really as good as we've all become accustomed to believing?

The results of Games 2 and 3 of their series against the Pacers would suggest the answer is no. 

Clutchness is a difficult thing to define, and you could even argue that it's impossible to articulate using statistics. For example, if you define it as, "Fourth quarter or overtime, less than five minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points," as 82games.com does, it works and it doesn't.

It's important to know how a player's going to perform when his team is down and there's no time left, but is a fourth-quarter situation in January really comparable to a fourth-quarter situation in a Game 7 in the playoffs? Some players' clutchness is off the charts in the middle of the regular season but it disappears when it really matters in May and June. The "clutch stats" sometimes indicate otherwise because most elite players fire away far more in crunch time than they do in regular time, which inflates their points total without necessarily increasing their accuracy. 

Here's a look at some of the most un-clutch elite players in the NBA, taking account of the statistics and their performances when it really matters in the postseason. 


Dwyane Wade

Even the stats aren't on Wade's side here. Wade ranks outside the top 20 in clutch statistics, according to 82games—way behind the ranks of Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki. He averages a .397 field-goal percentage when it matters most, well below his career average of .486, and in the clutch, he averages fewer assists (3.0) than he does in real time. 

But what tells the true story of his clutchness is his performance over the last two games of the playoffs. In Game 2, he missed what could've been the deciding layup with less than 30 seconds remaining, and in Game 3, he had one of the worst performances of his career, putting up a meager five points, five rebounds and one assist. 


Paul Pierce

Some of Pierce's most notable performances of late have been in Boston's postseason wins, particularly during the Celtics' 2007 championship run. But according to the stats, he ranks even further down than Wade among the clutch greats. According to 82games, he's 39th on the clutch list, behind even Al Horford and Blake Griffin. 

Pierce's field-goal percentage drops to .425 in clutch situations, and he tends to shoot far more frequently, taking 19.1 shots in the clutch as opposed to 16.1 in real time. 


Chris Paul 

Here is a case where the reality and the statistics kind of tell the same story. Paul ranks 62nd among all clutch players, and after his eight-turnover, 10-point performance in the Clippers' 105-88 loss to the Spurs on Thursday, it's not hard to see why. 

Paul normally shoots .361 from three-point range, but he shoots .267 in the clutch; from the field, he normally shoots .472, but he shoots .390 in the clutch. Plus, he averages 2.9 turnovers per 48 minutes of clutch time, whereas in real time, he averages 2.5. 

Al Horford

When the Hawks brought back an injured Horford for their first-round playoff series against Boston, they seemed to get a big boost from his return. According to 82games, however, his impact in the clutch isn't quite as positive as you might expect. 

He ranks 35th on the clutch list, and though he normally takes about 9.9 shots per game, he takes 13.7 in the clutch, and he's definitely not a guy you'd want shooting the rock from behind the arc when it matters. He's never made a three-pointer in the clutch, despite shooting .250 from beyond the arc regularly.  


Carmelo Anthony

The Knicks seemed to be doomed this postseason, no matter what. Anthony may have been plagued by injuries during the regular season, but the bug caught up with the rest of his team in the playoffs. Without Amar'e Stoudemire, Iman Shumpert, Jeremy Lin and Baron Davis at times, the onus was completely on him to produce. 

Anthony ranks 23rd on the clutch list, just one slot above Wade. According to 82games, he's played in 17 career clutch games, and he has a minus-10 plus/minus during clutch minutes. He takes a whopping 27.3 shots—up from 19.3 in regular time—and his field-goal percentage drops from .456 to .417. He also averages over one more turnover in clutch time (4.6) than he does in real time (3.0). 


LeBron James

This is the toughest player to consider in terms of clutchness because despite the fact that he's ranked fourth on the list (behind Bryant, Rose and Mo Williams), it's hard to remember the last time he registered a meaningful shot in a meaningful game. 

James regularly takes 20.4 shots and shoots at a 48.3 percent clip, but in the clutch, he takes 27.3 shots at a 43.6 percent clip. He also takes 7.3 three's in the clutch and makes 23.8 percent of them, whereas he regularly takes 4.0 per game and makes 33.1 percent, and he turns over the ball more frequently in the clutch (3.8 per game) than he does regularly (3.3).