NBA Superstar League: Durant by a distance

By Jack Maidment

A weekly statistical snapshot, out every Friday, ranking ten of the best players in the league.

Our 10: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James/Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge.

Let’s get to it.

Week 3.

1. Kevin Durant: NOH, DET, NJN. It was only a matter of time before Durantula made it to the top of the NBA Superstar League (5^th last week). His Oklahoma City Thunder have won their last three and have the NBA’s best record at 15-3. KD had games of 25-7-4, 20-5-2 and 20-15-3 this week and he is the main reason OKC is looking like the best bet to come out of the West.

2. Kevin Love: DAL, HOU, UTA. New contract, same player. Nobody in the league is doing more to help his team win than Love who is top five in both rebounding and scoring. The Wolves did lose twice this week (Houston, Utah) but that’s to be expected. They are young and going through the same learning-to-win process experienced by the Oklahoma City Thunder two years ago. More than that they downed the champs in Dallas behind 31-10 from Love who was 4-6 from three. Can he do anything more?

3. LeBron James: DET, CLE, MIL. He was number one last week and he has continued his strong play in the absence of Dwyane Wade. Two wins and a loss to Milwaukee (urgh), but good James games them all. In each he had at least 5 assists as he sought to set the table for the whole team. He is a joy to watch at the moment. The question is, will things change when Flash returns?

4. Derrick Rose: IND, NJN, TOR. Rose was effectively exempt from the Superstar League last week due to injury but he has come back strong after two wins and a loss, all without Luol Deng who has caught the prevalent Bulls injury bug. Yes the wins were against bad teams (Nets, Raptors) but you can only play who is in front of you. Rose has Chicago tops in the East with a 16-4 overall record, 8-2 in their last 10. For the Bulls to carry on with that pace without Deng it will mean Rose giving even more for the cause. And he will. Rise.

5. LaMarcus Aldridge: GSW, MEM, SAC. The Blazers are slumping a little of late, 4-6 last 10, and LA has struggled with consistency but two wins and a loss this week should help steady the ship.

6. Kobe Bryant: LAC, IND, ORL. KB24 fell from 1^st to 7^th last week as the Lakers struggled to score. They are the league’s third best defense according to the numbers but the other end of the floor has been a problem, especially for the bench where production has been virtually non-existent. However, the Lakers snapped their skid on Wednesday night with a marquee win in a chippy game against the Clippers. Kobe threw the ball away 7 times but was successful in sharing the ball, especially early on, dishing 6 assists to go with his 24 points. He stays put, give or take one or two.

7. Chris Paul: MEM, LAL. CP3 has only just returned from a hamstring injury and this week we learned he doesn’t like people touching his head. Aside from that Paul gave us a demonstration of how to control a game by passing with his 4 points 12 assists against the Lakers. He drops but fitness and lack of activity is mainly responsible.

8. Dwight Howard: BOS, IND, BOS. Dwight Howard had a bad week with two awful losses against the Celtics, begging the question: is the trade speculation (this week the Knicks) getting to Dwight? Probably not. It’s more about the team he’s on and the relative lack of help he receives. If he doesn’t do it, who else will? The Celtics embarrassed the Magic and Howard twice this week. Good enough for a four place drop.

9. Carmelo Anthony: CLE, CHA, DEN. Uh-oh. 17 games into the season and there are already calls for the Knicks to blow up the roster and trade one of their stars. Carmelo was bottom of the Superstar League last week and he deserves to be there this week too. In their last 8 games, the Knicks have won 1, lost 7, the lone victory coming against the Charlotte Bobcats. Melo scored 1 point. Man. If he could be lower than 9^th he would be.

10. Dirk Nowitzki. Has not played in almost 10 days due to injury and a terrible haircut, hence the fall.

Boris Diaw: An alternate history

By Jack Maidment

In Jack McCallum’s excellent 2005/06 season-on-the-bench book Seven Seconds Or Less, Mike D’Antoni, head coach of the Phoenix Suns, sits down with Boris Diaw for the Frenchman’s end of season exit interview.

“Boris, real quick, I’ll tell you what I told you last night. In the biggest game of the season you gave us thirty and eleven. You were the league’s Most Improved Player. I just appreciate everything you’ve done. You’re fun. You helped make the locker room great. Other than kissing your ass, I don’t have much to say.

“The main thing is that there is no reason your goal should not be to be one of the best players in the league. That’s how good you can be.”

So what happened?

At 6’8, 230lbs and with all of the skills of a guard, Boris Diaw was an absolute revelation in his debut season in Phoenix.

Having played two non-distinct years in Atlanta for the Hawks he arrived in the desert in 2005 as a result of the Joe Johnson trade with no hype and proceeded to tear our of the blocks doing everything the injury ravaged Suns needed.

He had played back up point guard in Atlanta but in the absence of Amar’e Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas, he dutifully played center. Like that’s a normal progression.

How many times has that ever happened before? How many players could even contemplate such a shift?

Regardless, Diaw poured in his best ever season, 13-7-6, the versatile fuel which ignited the Suns to their imperious high-tempo best.

He was too big for guards, too skilled and quick for hulking big men who grimaced at the thought of running with the Frenchman in the 7 Seconds offense.

He was the MIP in the league during the regular season and got even better in the playoffs (19-7-5), culminating in his 34-11 game one performance against the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals, including the game winner, which caused D’Antoni to gush with praise.

So what happened?

Things changed.

Stoudemire came back and he never averaged double digits as a Sun again. He got traded to the Charlotte Bobcats in 2008. He put on weight. He became a pale imitation of the match up nightmare born in the desert.

Four years later and Diaw is playing off the bench for the woeful Bobcats, posting 8-6-4. Solid numbers for a bench player, but for D’Antoni’s Diaw?

It’s tempting to write the Frenchman off as his production drops and say that he is done.

But he is only 29-years-old. Why can’t he come back?

He is enduring the toughest stretch of his career right now, a bench cog on a perennially bad team, potentially a fire slowly petering out.

It would surely be fitting, almost poetic, for him to rise again. Just like a Phoenix.

Starting Five: The week’s best NBA players

By Jack Maidment

The Week’s Best

@LeBron James. On January 19^th the Miami Heat faced off on national television for a much-hyped match up with Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James used the sizeable spotlight to remind everyone just what it means to be the best basketball player in the world.

The Heat didn’t have Wade, but it’s not like anyone noticed as LeBron played the most complete game of the season. He had 31 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks. He scored, he made his teammates better, he impacted the game defensively, he made Kobe look old. In short, he did everything. Follow that with 2 out of 3 wins this week and LeBron has served a reminder to the rest of the NBA: The king isn’t back, he never left.

@Chandler Parsons. Daryl Morey, the Houston Rockets GM once said whoever invented the box score should be shot; there is more to basketball than points, rebounds and assists. Chandler Parsons, the 38^th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, is doing a good job of making Morey’s point for him.

The forward out of Florida has stolen the starting small forward for the Rockets after one month in the league which is quite an achievement for a guy so under-the-radar he doesn’t even have a profile photo on the NBA website at the moment.

It is easy to see why he is enjoying early success because his energy level and I’m-going-to-make-a-play determination scream at you every time he plays. Need an offensive rebound? Parsons is crashing the boards like a mad man. Need a loose ball? Parsons doesn’t mind flinging his body around for the team. Need a steal down the stretch? Parsons. You get the idea.

If you want some help deciding who to watch on League Pass this week, I urge you to check out Minnesota-Houston. You will see what I mean.

@Rudy Gay. There is a phrase spoken often in the NFL: ‘Next Man Up’. It’s the title of a rather wonderful book and speaks to the need for other guys to fill in when their teammates go down. Rudy Gay has read this book.

After missing the playoffs last year due to injury and watching Zach Randolph power the Memphis Grizzlies to the brink in the second round, Gay is looking to return the favour as Z-Bo sits out after suffering a serious knee injury.

Gay has been the Next Man Up and the team has looked to him to be The Man. He has gladly accepted.

In the two games the Grizzlies won this week Gay was huge. His 23-9-4 and 5 stocks against the Warriors almost qualifies as art. In the game they lost against a good Portland team Gay was a little quieter and Memphis struggled. They go as Gay goes and because of that they should be just fine.

@Kyle Lowry. Kevin Martin. I know choosing two in the same slot is cheating, but given the Houston Rockets win by committee I figure their backcourt can count as one in the Starting Five. Before you say it (Three Rockets in one Starting Five?!), just hush.

This past week no team has been better than Houston and that’s official. The team with no star players is on a seven game winning streak and much of their success can be attributed to Lowry and Martin.

Lowry (hovering around triple double in his last three games) has been a revelation setting the table for everything the Rockets do, while Martin has accepted his role as the Rockets number one scorer. They both deserve to be here.

@Danilo Gallinari. The Denver Nuggets are 12-5, have won four in a row and are currently second in the Western Conference. They are another team winning by committee (like Houston and Indiana) but Gallinari is their best player. He had 37-11 against the Knicks in his last game and the night before put up 21-4-5 against the Wizards.

The NBA’s Big Three: What’s up with the Lakers, Celtics and Knicks?

By Jack Maidment

The NBA’s three biggest teams are in big trouble right now.

New York Knicks. Boston Celtics. Los Angeles Lakers. All united in history by similar levels of success, prestige and expectation, but most recently bound together by a seemingly irrevocable slide into oblivion.

The Knicks, them of the ‘obvious’ championship calibre, are currently mired in a six game losing streak and their saviour Carmelo Anthony is being booed every time he gets the ball.

The Lakers have lost their last three and have a 1-6 record on the road.

The Celtics are at 6-9, a miserable 4-6 in their last 10, with half of their wins coming against the woeful Washington Wizards.

So what the hell is wrong with the NBA’s Big Three?

For the Knicks it’s all about the offense, even if that does fly in the face of every winning mantra ever given air time by a coach.

I have watched the Knicks play more than any other team this season and I can safely say they play terrible basketball. Car crash basketball.

And yet. The pieces look so enticing. It’s Carmelo! And Amare! And Mike D’Antoni’s offense! In the Garden!

But it just doesn’t work. And the idea that Baron Davis will swoop in and fix all of New York’s problems is absurd.

The only way the Knicks get fixed is if Carmelo buys in to a system that involves him passing. That’s it and all about it.

When he is selfish with the ball the Knicks struggle, particularly Amare Stoudemire, who is looking more and more like the forgotten man in fourth quarters.

When they pass the pall they actually look like an okay team: Nothing was more telling last week than when Carmelo left the game against Phoenix in the third and the Knicks moved the ball and played their best basketball of the night. No kidding.

But passing is a rarity in New York this season with the Knicks in the bottom five in the league for assists at a measly 18 a game.

Until that changes, and Baron will help, the boos will continue to rain down in MSG. But the Knicks will be back this year, of that I am sure.

I’m not sure the same can be said of the Celtics or Lakers.

The Celts’ problems lie in rebounding the ball and a severe lack of depth. Boston is the second worst team on the boards in the NBA this season, pulling down a paltry 38 a game, and its bench is absolutely awful. Look.

Combine that with an offense scoring 89 a game (26^th overall in the NBA) and an over-reliance on Rajon Rondo and the Celtics are praying for the 8^th seed in the East.

Such an aspiration is shared by the Lakers right now as they wallow in 10^th place in the West having scored more than 100 points in a game just once this season. After 18 games.

Oh, and their starting point guard is averaging 5-2 a game. And shoots .241 from three. And their bench has exactly zero scorers. And they traded Lamar Odom for a second round pick.

After four years of Celtic Laker dominance it feels strange to think of them as 8^th seeds. And despite their refurbishment the Knicks continue to struggle to shake off their immediate past.

But that’s where we are. Tough times are ahead for all three of these teams.

NBA Rookie Ratings: Rubio remains, Brooks rises

By Jack Maidment

Straight to the League’s Week 2 NBA Rookie Ratings. Enjoy.

1. Ricky Rubio, Minnesota Timberwolves. On Friday against the Clippers Rubio missed his first 10 shots before hitting a game tying three pointer to set up Kevin Love’s buzzer beater for a Wolves’ win.

He shot the corner three in front of the LA bench without any hesitation, despite his struggles from the floor. He still had 9-6-6 in 32 minutes as well as three steals and a block. The game proved that even when the Spaniard’s shot isn’t falling he can contribute and get it done in other ways.

As a result of his versatility Minnesota is enjoying a three game winning streak and escaping the NBA’s basement for the first time in what seems like an age. He was on top of the Rookie Ratings last week and he deserves to stay there.

2. MarShon Brooks. New Jersey Nets. Brooks continues to shoot the ball well for a truly awful Nets team. Last week he was 4^th in the Ratings but his play has warranted a two spot jump.

He is averaging 15 points a game as well as four rebounds and a couple of assists but he has upped his performance on the glass this past week grabbing about 8 boards a game in his last three. In a win over the Golden State Warriors Brooks had 22-8-6, a glimpse of what he should become. He looks to be one of the steals of the draft.

3. Iman Shumpert, New York Knicks. It’s not Shumpert’s fault he plays for a schizophrenic Knicks team. One week they are ripping off a five game winning streak then they lose their next five. Iman is down one in the Ratings this week due to a little inconsistency; his play has mirrored that of his up and down team. It will be interesting to see how the rookie’s production changes when Baron Davis returns.

4. Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers. Down one this week after a monumental beat down by the Chicago Bulls who played without Derrick Rose on Friday night. Even so, the #1 pick has continued to figure the NBA out and his leadership and on floor production this week are testament to that.

Aside from the débâcle in Chicago where things got ugly early (not Irving’s fault) he played two solid games against the Warriors (a loss, but 18-5-8) and the Bobcats (a win, 25-4-7). He is going to be in the mix in the NBA Rookie Ratings all year. I don’t see him dropping out.

5. Kemba Walker, Charlotte Bobcats. Man the Bobcats suck, but at least they have started giving Kemba some serious minutes. As a result the Uconn guard has cracked the top five of the Ratings for the first time, as well as injecting some life and excitement into a moribund franchise. He has scored at least 14 in his last three, including 23 in a win over the Warriors.

Sneakers and Creepers: Kahwi Leonard.

Last week:

1. Ricky Rubio
2. Iman Shumpert
3. Kyrie Irving
4. MarShon Brooks
5. Norris Cole

Sneakers and Creepers: Markieff Morris, Jon Leuer.

 

NBA Superstar League: LeBron James surging

By Jack Maidment

A weekly statistical snapshot, out every Friday, ranking ten of the best players in the league.

Our 10: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James/Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge.

Let’s get to it.

Week 2.

1. LeBron James: LAL, SAS, DEN. No Wade, no worries for King James this week who has upped his production in just about every category in the absence of The Flash. Last week he was dead last in the Superstar League after suffering from the line and losing two games. But this week he has been back to his best, grabbing two wins out of three tough games, averaging more than 30 points each night as well as a handful of other statistical goodness. Anything and everything the Heat needed he has delivered. From last to first.

2. Kevin Love: DET, SAC, ATL. The double-double machine is on the rise (he was 9^th last week) and so are the Wolves who are finally remembering/learning what winning in the NBA means. Two wins in the last three against admittedly not great teams, but a win is a win and all that. He has had 30-13, 33-11 and 20-17 in the last week and he is pretty much a lock for the All-Star game. Join the Love Train while there is room.

3. Chris Paul: LAL. Has only played once this week due to injury but the game he played against the Lakers was an absolute masterpiece. He controlled the game and scored almost at will powering the Clippers to a big time win. 33-4-6 with just one turnover in a rivalry game? Good for a rise I think. Up one.

4. Dwight Howard: SAS, CHA, NYK. He was third last week after racking up three wins. Not quite so good this week with two wins and a loss to the Spurs, but still, he is winning games for a bad Magic team. No fireworks this week, but solid.

5. Kevin Durant: WAS, BOS, NYK. Two wins against two teams struggling for an identity and a loss to a team just, well, struggling, is not good enough to keep Durant in second place this week. You can’t lose to Washington and stay that high, not matter how many points you score.

6. LaMarcus Aldridge: ATL, NOH, HOU. Last week LA was in at 7^th and he is probably good for about the same this week. His play is solid without being stellar with his Blazers suffering two losses in the last three. He has put up about 22-10 the past week but if Portland is going to make the leap with Aldridge as the man they probably need a little bit more from him. Not masses, but at least a little.

7. Kobe Bryant: MIA, DAL, LAC. Kobe was number one last week after scoring more than 100 points in three games and powering the Lakers to three wins, but it looks like the schedule has caught up with the mamba who is still playing well, but not like the man possessed he was last week. The teams he faced this week were all tough but two losses is not going to sit well with Kobe, especially against the noisy neighbours and the Heat. Down.

8. Dirk Nowitzki: UTA, LAC, LAL. He was in sixth last week after winning three in a row but not playing particularly well, but the Mavericks lost twice in Los Angeles this week, once against the Lakers and once against the Clippers. His play has continued to be sporadic and he put up just 12 points against the Utah Jazz in a win. Drops.

9. Carmelo Anthony: PHX, ORL, MEM. Three losses and Melo has been bad in all of them, struggling from the floor in the wake of injury troubles. The Knicks just are not playing well right now. Down 1.

10. Derrick Rose: Day to day with a left toe sprain and has not taken the floor since a gritty win over the Raptors on January 14. He is down, but he will be back.

Starting Five: The week’s best NBA players

By Jack Maidment

The Week’s Best

@Carlos Boozer. The Chicago Bulls power forward with the fat contract scored 31 points, a season high, against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday in a 118-97 win while pulling down six rebounds. He put up 26 of them in the first half as Chicago played another game without All-World point guard Derrick Rose. It’s the kind of game the Bulls were expecting when they snatched Boozer from the Utah Jazz and the kind of game he has seldom played since moving to the Windy City. For the Bulls to keep winning without Rose and to win in June they need more games like this from Boozer.

@Louis Williams. The Philadelphia 76ers are currently in the midst of a three game winning streak and are undefeated at home (6-0) with an overall record of 10-3, good enough for tops in the Atlantic Division and second (!) overall in the Eastern Conference. No one on the Sixers scores more than 16 points a game but they have seven guys averaging double digits. Phila may be winning by committee, but Williams is their spark plug. He hasn’t started any games this year, coming off the bench 13 times, but he leads the team in scoring at 16.2 points a game in just 25 minutes. He’s also throwing in four assists and shooting .417 from three.

@Dwight Howard. The game’s best center has been going berserk in the last week, leading the Orlando Magic on a five game win streak and third place in the Eastern Conference. In his last three games he has scored 78 points as well as grabbing almost 17 rebounds a night.

@Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook. Oklahoma City fans rejoice. The Thunder are on an NBA-best seven game win streak and possess the league’s best record while their two best players are playing so well I couldn’t choose between them for this week’s Starting Five. Westbrook has had games of 26-7-4, 21-8-8 and 22-2-7 in his last three while Durant over the same period has scored 28, 28 and 29. They are the league’s best pairing at present and are starting to distance the Thunder as the best in the West.

The NBA’s best, and worst, three point shooters

By Jack Maidment

It’s been said to succeed in the NBA you have to have at least one elite skill. If you are a great defender, say Shane Battier, chances are you’ll stick somewhere. Precognitive rebounder, like Dennis Rodman, you have a great chance of staying in the league.

Similarly, if you can shoot the lights out of any gym you play in a team somewhere is going to want you – putting the ball in the hole is never going to get old, hitting the open jump shot will never go out of fashion.

With that in mind here is a break down of the best, and absolute worst, three point shooters in the NBA this season.

To qualify each player had to have taken at least 30 shots from behind the arc (about three attempts a game, give or take).

Without looking I had three of these guys on the list in my head. The rest were almost total surprises.

The Best:

1. Ray Allen, Boston Celtics. No surprises here. The man with the most three pointers made in NBA history is officially the best shooter from beyond the arc in the league and it’s not even close. Who knew. Jesus has shot 31-54 from three, good for a suitably majestic .574 from behind the arc.
2. Markieff Morris, Phoenix Suns. The rookie big man has made 16 of 31. He is shooting .516 from three. Anyone who says they had Morris on this list is a liar.
3. Richard Jefferson, San Antonio Spurs. 36-71. .507
4. Brandon Rush, Golden State Warriors. Right player in the perfect offense. 17-35. .486
5. James Jones, Miami Heat. The second of my three. Junior is a given. 15-31. .484
6. Hedo Turkoglu, Orlando Magic. Confusure. I thought Turkoglu stopped playing in 2010? 30-62. .484
7. Nicolas Batum, Portland Trailblazers. 21-44. .477
8. Danny Green, San Antonio Spurs. 14-30. .467
9. Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics. Pretty good when two of the top 10 three point shooters in the NBA are on the same team. Even if said team is awful. 18-39. .462
10. Daniel Gibson, Cleveland Cavaliers. He was my third. He will take Eddie House’s moniker soon enough. 22-48. .458

The next list is ugly. I checked the stats on the number one guy at least four times because I couldn’t believe you could miss so many threes without the coach fitting you with an electric shock collar. I picked one right.

The Worst:

1. Raymond Felton, Portland Trailblazers. Unbelievable. Just unbelievable. 6-43. .140
2. John Salmons, Sacramento Kings. I picked him. 8-44. .182
3. Wesley Johnson, Minnesota Timberwolves. 8-41. .195
4. Shawne Williams, New Jersey Nets. 7-33. .212
5. Lamar Odom, Dallas Mavericks 9-42. .214

 

Why DeAndre Jordan is the Clippers’ most important player

By Jack Maidment

It’s about damn time we had some rash statements made about a team or player.

It feels like ages since LeBron was better than Jordan and the Heat were going to win 7 titles.

Frankly I’m getting withdrawal symptoms. I’m only eating soup. I’ve started smoking.

So strictly in the interests of hyperbole and my health, let’s see if this suitably ridiculous assertion will fill the void:

DeAndre Jordan is the most important player on the Los Angeles Clippers.

I said it and it feels… good. I think this could work.

DeAndre Jordan is a 23-year-old center in his third year in the NBA.

Last year he averaged 7 points and 7 rebounds a game as well as a couple of blocks and this season, after signing a $43million 4-year contract with the Clips in the off-season, he is doing about the same – give or take a block or two.

But his importance to Los Angeles cannot be measured in the usual categories, after all Blake Griffin is going to score and rebound. Chris Paul is going to pass and make his teammates better. Chauncey Billups is going to play like a corpse.

DeAndre Jordan doesn’t need to worry about any of that.

His worth to this Clippers team can be measured with much simpler numbers, specifically 6-11, 256.

He is the biggest player, with talent, the Clippers can put on the floor and in the NBA, as in the world of award-winning vegetables, size matters.

When the Clips played the Lakers on January 14 DeAndre started the game playing Andrew Bynum while his good friend Blake Griffin had to cover Pau Gasol.

Two quick fouls on Jordan later and the Clippers first big man off the bench came in to play Bynum – 6-8 Reggie Evans.

No knock on Evans, he is a solid role player who adds toughness to any team, but when you are asking him to play a 7 foot-plus leviathan in the shape of Bynum, it’s just not fair.

Jordan is pretty much the only proper big man on the entire team which puts a lot of pressure on him to stay on the floor. Their front line is painfully thin.

But when he is in the game playing foul-free he is a terror. He plays solid defence in the post, throws down some dunks, grabs some boards, contributes. Most importantly he is just there.

The old adage goes ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ and the Clippers don’t miss any other player more than Jordan when he is forced to go to the bench.

Not Paul, not Griffin, not Butler.

How’d I do?

Kobe Bryant or LeBron James: Is there more to performing in the ‘clutch’ than simply shooting?

Kobe shoots. But LeBron?

By Jack Maidment

The term ‘clutch’ is a funny thing. It’s just a word but its meaning when applied to sports can be profound.

Depending on the context in which it is used it can be the highest of compliments, ‘he’s a great clutch player’, or the strongest of condemnations, ‘he doesn’t get it done in the clutch’.

Effectively it’s a label and the label can be hard to shake once it’s attached, especially if it’s being used negatively.

Kobe Bryant is a clutch player. LeBron James is not. That’s the prevailing wisdom. But is it accurate?

This season LeBron has played in 11 games, 6 of which qualify for clutch analysis (games where the score margin is within 5 points in the last 5 minutes).

Unlike just about every other superstar in the NBA LeBron James’ field goal attempts don’t go up in the clutch, in fact they go down, albeit marginally so.

Compare that to Kobe Bryant who takes 23.9 shots per 36 minutes in regular play but with a shooting pace of more than 30 in the clutch. That’s a big leap.

So Kobe takes a lot more shots than LeBron down the stretch but he is the only player who can create his own shot on the Lakers while LeBron has Dwyane Wade to share the ball with.

But regardless of who gets the ball for the Heat, when it is LeBron he is shooting just 33% from the field in the final 5 minutes, down from an otherworldly 58% for the rest of the game. That’s an unreal drop.

That’s not the only problem with LeBron this year who is also struggling at the free throw line in the last 5 minutes.

He gets there a lot more at the end of the game, as you would imagine, but once on the stripe he is hitting just 58%, down from the 73% that he normally shoots.

Kobe, in contrast, has played in 10 games this year that qualify for clutch analysis and while his field goal % goes down about 10% to 35% down the stretch, his free throw shooting actually increases, from 84% from the line to 88% – In short he makes you pay when it matters most.

It’s also worth considering that Kobe’s usage rate goes up 10% in the clutch to 56.2% (‘takeover mode’) while LeBron’s goes up just 3% to 38.3%.

Much of that can be attributed to the make-up of their respective teams: the Heat don’t necessarily need to go through James to get a bucket, the Lakers are much more reliant on Kobe.

But it doesn’t stop there. Or at least it shouldn’t.

Historically, performing in the clutch has been associated with scoring the ball, but there should be more consideration to other intangibles, as LeBron’s assist rating shows.

His assist % in the clutch (an estimate of the % of teammate field goals assisted while he is on the floor) sky rockets in the last five minutes from 35.5% to a staggering 66.7%.

While Kobe, and the rest of his fellow stars, usually shoot the ball in the clutch, LeBron is often compelled to pass.

Different wiring I guess.