Chauncey Billups hit 9-13 from long range en route to a 39-4-8 night against the Lakers. The win is mightily impressive, especially considering the Nuggets were without Carmelo Anthony.
Oh, and Ron Artest almost punched Joey Graham. Almost. Take a look…
John Schuhmann of NBA.com wrote an interesting article last week that looks at how players perform in “the clutch” (i.e. the last five minutes of a game with a margin of five points or less).
So who is Mr. Clutch? The man in the picture.
Manu Ginobili has the highest true shooting percentage of any player in the last five seasons. He’s not a particularly good shooter (44%) in the clutch, but he gets to the line a ton and makes his free throws at a high rate (86%). Mehmet Okur is second and Steve Nash third.
You also might notice that there’s no Bryant, James, Wade or Carmelo Anthony in the top 10. They’re a little further down the list. James ranks 12th, Anthony ranks 22nd, Wade ranks 28th and Bryant ranks 38th.
Who has the biggest difference in overall TS% and clutch TS%? Or, in other words, who steps up their game the most in the clutch?
Okur is tops in that category, trailed by T.J. Ford and Carlos Boozer. Ginobili is fourth.
Who’s shooting declines the most in the clutch?
Kirk Hinrich is first, followed by Pau Gasol and Hedo Turkoglu.
Where do our big four stand? James and Anthony shoot better in the clutch, while Wade and Bryant do not.
It’s an interesting read.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Duh.
There’s always a lot on the line in the Conference Finals. But this year it seems like there is more at stake for the superstars still standing. Let’s start with…
KOBE
Kobe Bryant has made it abundantly clear that his #1 priority is to win another title. This focus is not unusual for players that haven’t won a ring, but Kobe has three, so why is he so determined to win a fourth? Simply stated, for the sake of his own legacy, he has to win a title without Shaq.
If he fails, he will be viewed by history as a great player who won a few titles as Shaq’s sidekick. This is not the legacy that Kobe wants to leave. Barring a two- or three-peat, he’s not going to be able to catch Michael Jordan, but if he is able to win a ring this year — and he’s the first to admit that this is his best chance — then he’ll do it as “The Guy” on a championship team. There’s no Shaq wreaking havoc in the middle, just a collection of players deemed too soft (Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom) or too young (Andrew Bynum, Jordan Farmar, Trevor Ariza) that Kobe led to the Promised Land.
And the clock is ticking. Kevin Garnett could come back strong next season, LeBron is getting better by the year, and there are a few up-and-coming teams (Orlando, Houston, Portland, etc.) that are looking to knock Kobe off of his perch.
The time is now. Kobe’s window is closing, and he knows it.
Typically, an NBA team can expect to score one point per possession (or thereabouts) over a course of a game. So when one team outrebounds another on the offensive glass by a margin of 20-9, it’s really 11 extra possessions and 11 extra opportunities to score. That’s why the Nuggets were able to bounce back tonight from a tough loss in Game 3; they dominated the glass by a margin of 58-40, and went on to win 120-101.
The win is even more impressive considering the struggles of Carmelo Anthony, who went 3 of 16 from the field. Chauncey Billups picked up the slack, and had key back-to-back buckets when the Nuggets were nursing a nine-point lead early in the fourth quarter. He drove to the hole and got the “and one,” and then on the Nuggets’ next possession, he brought the ball up and drained a three. Billups was one of seven Nuggets to score in double figures; J.R. Smith deserves mention for his 24 points and four assists off the bench.
Kobe Bryant posted 34 points on 10 of 26 shooting (39%). Pau Gasol added 21 points and 10 boards, and Andrew Bynum had 14 points and five boards, but Phil Jackson isn’t getting much production from the rest of the roster. Two vets that the Lakers are counting on — Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher — combined to shoot 3 of 15 for 10 points.
The series moves back to L.A. for Game 5 and if the Nuggets can avoid the mental errors in crunch time, they have a good shot to win this series. The Lakers are inconsistent and out of synch, and they really need that supporting cast to raise its game.
While this story is a few days old, it brings up an important problem in sports-spectating today (the picture represents the reaction of Ms. Vasquez). We start off with the recent interview of Carmelo Anthony’s fiancée, Lala Vasquez concerning an incident at the Western semis Game 5 between her and a group of fans as posted on Mom Logic:
They began yelling ‘F*** the Nuggets!’ right in front of my son.” Then she says they started calling the Nuggets players “n*****s.” She was shocked. “I’ve been at a ton of games — but I have NEVER heard fans say things like that.” Then, looking directly at her while taunting Anthony on the court, Lala says the fans called her son a “bastard.”
While this seems a case taken to an extreme, it certainly isn’t so uncommon to anyone bringing their children to a game. Especially this year’s playoffs (with Mark Cuban dumping on somebody’s mom and children being tossed aside by large men) it seems like sports, specifically basketball, have become less and less family friendly.
OK, OK. I’m blowing this a little out of proportion, besides I’m a single, young guy. Why should I care about this anyway? Well, come on, some things belong in sports and some don’t. The kind of language and behavior I’m talking about goes far beyond anything acceptable at a bar, let alone a public all-ages event. So it’d be nice to see something done at least to dissuade people from unloading a salvo of vulgarity at the back of an 8-year-old’s head. What if they rise up against us? Look at that face up there and tell me you wouldn’t run for it.
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