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NBA clutch stats

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:25 pm
by fallacy
From someone named David Locke. He looked around the NBA to find the most clutch teams and the most clutch players. I found some surprising names on there from the Thunder.
http://www.nba.com/jazz/features/locked_on_jazz.html

Most Clutch NBA Teams:

Teams----PTS PER Scoring OPP
Jazz 1.23
Mavs 1.23
Spurs 1.21
Warriors 1.20
Thunder 1.17

So the thunder are the 5th most clutch team in the NBA which surprised me a lot. We always seem to fail when the game is on the line but apparently we are quite good.

Now to the players

Player----------PTS PER----% Used
Jeff Green---- 1.65 --------11.9%
Richard Jeff.--1.50---------13.4
Steph Curry ---1.36---------24.4
Jason Terry ---1.36---------26.8
SKIPPING SOME
Westbrook-----1.21---------41.8
Kobe Bryant---1.21---------47.9
SKIPPING SOME
Kevin Durant --1.08---------26.3

I always knew that Jeff Green was clutch, but i never thought that he was the most clutch person in the NBA. The fact that he has a quite large lead is also weird to me. The thunder only use him in 12% of clutch situations despite this fact though.

Westbrook is also pretty clutch, he finished 14th in the NBA which is pretty good. His 42% usage rate in clutch situations scares me though. The only person who is used more in these situations in Kobe Bryant.

Durant finished 20th in the NBA in clutchness. His 26% usage rate is really low though. We almost never get him the ball in late game situations. I would like him to get the ball more than that, he's our start player

Re: NBA clutch stats

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:07 am
by slick_watts
It's nice, but the sample size for clutch statistics is so small when you're only looking at one season. Using Locke's criteria, for example, the sample is under 100 minutes for Green and Durant, and barely over 100 for Westbrook. That's not a significant sample to glean anything meaningful from.

The team statistics are more important and it surprises me that the team in general is doing so well scoring the ball. Considering our two prime handlers in clutch situations are both very turnover prone, and Locke is not incorporating turnovers into his analysis, I suspect our overall performance down the stretch offensively is a bit worse than is indicated here.

Re: NBA clutch stats

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:30 am
by dream_catcher_9
Jeff Green is Robert Horry part deux. When we start making deep runs in the playoffs yearly Green's name will be more popular with his clutch ness.

Russell Westbrook also has something absurd like a 95% FT% in clutch situations.

But to the point I dunno why we don't give the ball to Uncle Jeff more in the clutch? Every time he shoots it you think its going in during pressure situations. Heck I thought the half court shot he took last night was going in lol.

Re: NBA clutch stats

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:35 am
by slick_watts
dream_catcher_9 wrote:But to the point I dunno why we don't give the ball to Uncle Jeff more in the clutch? Every time he shoots it you think its going in during pressure situations. Heck I thought the half court shot he took last night was going in lol.


At least part of the reason (as Locke states in his article) that Green is so successful in these situations is that he's open. He's usually not creating offense for himself in clutch situations, it's usually the defense being drawn by either KD or RW and Green getting the ball on rotations, and in rhythm.

We should be running plays like this a lot in those situations. The Celtics game last year that we won is a good example...

Re: NBA clutch stats

Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:46 am
by dream_catcher_9
slick_watts wrote:
dream_catcher_9 wrote:But to the point I dunno why we don't give the ball to Uncle Jeff more in the clutch? Every time he shoots it you think its going in during pressure situations. Heck I thought the half court shot he took last night was going in lol.


At least part of the reason (as Locke states in his article) that Green is so successful in these situations is that he's open. He's usually not creating offense for himself in clutch situations, it's usually the defense being drawn by either KD or RW and Green getting the ball on rotations, and in rhythm.

We should be running plays like this a lot in those situations. The Celtics game last year that we won is a good example...


even when he is not open he can score. Hawks game last year, Pistons game this year, and Nets game in 3 ot Green kept us in the game.. Dude just finds a way to make things happen in the clutch.