Clyde Frazier wrote:So... worth mentioning: Carter has been pretty bad in elimination games throughout his career.
00: 5-17 FG, 39.1% TS, 15 PTS
01: 6-18, 45.5% TS, 20 PTS
05: 6-22, 42.2% TS, 23 PTS
06: 13-25, 57% TS, 33 PTS
07: 4-11, 41.7% TS, 11 PTS
2010: 6-15, 49.4% TS, 17 PTS
2013: 3-10, 40% TS, 8 PTS
2014: 4-12, 41.7% TS, 10 PTS
In 7 of his 8 career elimination games, he doesn't even come close to average efficiency. I'm not calling the guy a flat out choker or anything. He has a solid overall career resume, and was a dynamic player in his prime. Compared to hayes, though, this is a trend that would concern me. I don't really see a case for him over hayes who played better in the playoffs (although yes, still up and down), and ultimately played a major role in helping his team win a championship.
2000: Young Vince Carter had a good overall statline in those series with his rebounding and playmaking. He wasn't efficient scoring, and was definitely stopped arround the rim. Ewing did a good job. Despite Carter having almost 46%ts those series he shot 15-50 from the field. The elimination game doesn't mean much in a sweep.
2001: too much pressure on Vince and Allen Iverson on that game. He played ok with 7 rebounds and 9 assists on 2 TOs... his shot wasn't falling but the D was applying too much pressure on him.
2005: Not a good series by Vince Carter. Kidd couldn't get his shot going too and the team just wasn't deep to cover up for that. Elimination game doesn't mean that much, the series were already lost since the Nets got swept.
2006: Great series overall and he played well in that elimination game. The Heat were just too much for the Nets. Wade was on one of the most impressive runs ever in playoff history, Shaq did a solid job and the Nets didn't have anyone capable of stopping him, and even Antoine Walker's threes were going down.
2007 vs Cleveland: struggled the entire series while being defended many times by a young LeBron, but to be fair LeBron should win that matchup, in 2007 it was already clear who was the best player.
2010 vs Celtics: Really difficult series for VC but come on. Kobe Bryant and LeBron in that same year had some very difficult games against Boston themselves, and they were the two best players in the league. I really can't fault Vince Carter for not playing great vs Boston.
2013 and 2014 Carter was just old. He contributed well in 2014 from the bench, didn't do good in 2013. The alst game of the series was a blowout in 2014, so the entire team struggled to make anything against San Antonio.
He lacks great performances in those type of games but maybe only in 2001 or 2010 he could have made more impact in order to make his team go trough. Still he was playing great defenses (more in 2010). 2007 is a difficult analysis, I feel he could have done more but going against LeBron wasn't easy too.
