Clutch Much? The Top 12 Players In The Clutch So Far This Season
One of the nicest things on those vacuum tubes better known as the internet is 82games.com's "Clutch Stats." It shows the per 48 minute production of players who are in the "4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points."
Whoever is the top scorer isn't necessarily the most clutch (though that doesn't mean he can't be either). I wanted to see who was the most clutch taking into account steals, rebounding, assists, blocks, missed field goals and all that fun stuff. What follows is a list of the top 10 players in the clutch so far this season who have played at least 50 clutch minutes.
Last year the top player in the clutch during the regular season was LeBron James statistically speaking. This year he won't be in the top ten list, and neither will his teammate Dywane Wade. That doesn't mean they aren't clutch though, it just means they don't have enough minutes to qualify. The problem when you blow everybody out by 10 is that you don't have enough close games to build up your clutch stats.
Wade and James aren't on the list not because they aren't good enough clutch, but because they aren't in the clutch enough at all.
In case you're interested the formula I used to come up with this is below. The results are based solely on the actual production. While there will inevitably the "So and so should be higher" comments, I'll just reply to them all right now. No they shouldn't. These are based on who has done what so far this season, and as a result they are exactly where they should or shouldn't be. This isn't saying who is the best in the clutch, it's saying who has done the most in the clutch this year.
PTS+(ASS*2)+((REB+BLK+STL)*1.05)-(FGMISSED+(FTMISSED/2)+T0)*1.05)
12: Chris Paul—44.3
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Chris Paul is the New Orleans Hornets, and he's the 12th person on our list. He's averaging 27 points, eight boards, and 11 dimes per 48 minutes of clutch time. He's still a touch off of where he was before he got injured. There is still a lot more sting in this Hornet and when he's all the way back, the NBA will be "a-Pauled" at what he's does to their teams.
11: Amar'e Stoudemire—45.2
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If you're just looking for raw scoring, Stoudemire is third in the NBA in clutch time scoring and it is scoring that wins games eventually, so the importance of that can't be undersold. The reason he falls down to 11th here is that he doesn't do a lot else. His rebounding numbers actually go down in clutch time and his assists almost disappear. Overall he's at 48 points, nine rebounds and two assists.
10: Kevin Durant—45.6
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It's easy to assume that Durant is here because of his scoring, and at 42.8 points per 48 minutes of scoring in clutch time, that's there, but don't ignore his boarding. His 15.1 rebounds are pretty impressive, and the best of anyone who is not a power forward or center. His shooting percentage knocks him down a tad though.
9: Deron Williams—46.2
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Deron Williams has led the Jazz to some amazing comebacks this season so far. It shows up in his clutch stats. He's scoring almost 30 points to go with over all assists and four rebounds per 48 minutes of clutch time.
8: Steve Nash—47.0
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The old man is still getting it done. He's got his two MVP awards but that doesn't mean he's losing value with age. He's scoring 35 points to go with 12 dimes and five and a half boards for every 48 minutes of clutch time. Perhaps the most eye-popping of his numbers are his making 96 percent of 19 free throw attempts per 48 minutes of clutch time. Whether you're trying to cut a lead or open it up, having a FT shooter like that is just too valuable.
7: Derrick Rose—48.3
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He's even getting MVP chants on the road now. His clutch performances are a big part of the reason he's in the conversation. With 40 points, almost 9 and a half assists, and nearly 14 rebounds, Rose has the most well-rounded performance in the NBA in clutch time, just barely missing out on the clutch triple-double. What's amazing are his rebound numbers in clutch time, making him far and away the leading rebounder among guards in clutch time. In fact no other non-guard has more and only one other guard is over ten. His four made buzzer beaters in six attempts also lead the NBA this season.
6: Kobe Bryant—49.8
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Kobe's 53 points not surprisingly lead the NBA in clutch scoring. His nearly nine assists aren't too shabby either. Surprising though is that he's only getting four rebounds, which along with his 39 percent FGP cause him to fall off in the stats a bit. His normal rebounding is actually higher than his clutch rebounding.
This of course has no bearing on who you want to take the shot when the game is on the line. Nor does this mean that Kobe isn't the best pure clutch player in the NBA. It just means he's only ranked here by the stats so far this season. Remember this isn't a ranking of who you want in the clutch but a list of who has performed the best in the clutch so far this season.
5: Rajon Rondo—50.0
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Not surprisingly Rondo makes the list based on the strength of his passing. He's averaging almost 18 assists to go with his seven rebounds and 15.5 points. He's a perfect example of why you can't just look at scoring to see who is "taking over" games. He takes them over, but he does it with his passing. When he does shoot, he's doing so efficiently, making 50 percent of his shots from the field.
4: Manu Ginobili—51.9
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Manu is getting a lot of MVP hype this year as his Spurs are running away with the best record in the league. His clutch stats aren't going to make that talk go away as he's averaging two blocks, four steals, six assists, eight rebounds and 41 points per 48 minutes of clutch time. It seems that when the game is on the line Ginobili is doing everything everywhere.
3: Russell Westbrook—57.7
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Russell Westbrook is a stud. He's taking over games. Even Kevin Durant will tell you that. He's scoring 48 points per 48 minutes of clutch time to go with 10 boards and 5 dimes. The assist total is surprisingly low, particularly with Durant on the team. Russell is another one who has a knack for getting to the line and making shots in the clutch as 40 percent of his clutch scoring comes at the stripe and his 93 percent shooting. Westbrook also leads the NBA in actual total production, having played a league high 102 minutes of clutch time.
2: Al Horford—58.8
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Let me clarify here. I'm not saying that Al Horford is the second most clutch player in the game right now. I am saying that he's performed the second best in the clutch per 48 minutes so far. However, you can do two things with this if you weren't already aware of Horford's production. You can either dismiss it, or you can be intrigued.
I for one am intrigued. Remember, these aren't my opinions I just ran the numbers through an excel sheet and then sorted them and this is what popped up. When I see something like this the first thing I think of is whether my formula is messed up. But it's not. This is the actual result. So then I think, ok, look and see what he's doing that has him up this high.
Horford gets this hight on the list for several reasons. First, his field goal percentage and free-throw percentage are very high 66 percent and 89 percent respectively. He's scoring 35 points, but he's doing very efficiently. Making your shots and possessions count are very important in clutch time. Second, he's averaging 16.6 boards per 48 minutes of clutch time, the most of anyone on this list. Third, his 5.2 assists are surprisingly high, in fact he's getting the same number as Russell Westbrook.
He might not be "dominating" the game by "taking it over" but he does seem to be dominating it in a hidden way. His impact during clutch time shouldn't be diminished merely because he's not on nightly ESPN highlights.
1: Dirk Nowitzki—59.2
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It's strange but true, the best thing that Dirk might have done for his MVP case is get injured. They went elite to lite without Dirk in their starting lineup. His 50 points, 14 rebounds and five assists per 48 minutes of clutch time are certainly missed. Now we don't have to hypothetically ask how much he means to the team, we know.
