iserp:
I think LeBron’s problem is not that he is not clutch, but that he hasn’t a clue about team play and is worse at that than inefficient chuckers. At least inefficient chuckers do what they usually do at the end of games… LeBron is another level of superheroness deciding to do it all by himself in utterly strange ways.

I mean, LeBron pads his stats in the usual way… but his repertoire is limited. He is not a great pure shooter, and he doesn’t post up. If you don’t allow transition plays (perhaps using fouls intelligently) at the end of games, he becomes much more average. If Lebron doesn’t stick to his role (best transtion player in the world, physical beast), and tries to do hero things (this kind of plays Kobe makes somewhat inefficiently), things become much worse for his team.

agree and disagree. he certainly is a good and willing passer, but he disdains the post like meat shuns the grinder.

he has a karl malone upper body and runs the floor like james worthy, but he wants to play like alex english instead of playing like bob pettit.

with his physicality he should have every 3 in the league in foul trouble 2 minutes into the game. how does a 3 guard a guy who can pass like james and has his power and lift? unpossible.

danvt:
I believe in clutch simply because I’ve seen so many who don’t have it.I mean, you know, the times you can barely stand to look at the situation.It can’t be that the jocks don’t feel that pressure too.I think some players get the sense, at moments like that, that they’re the best on the court and everyone else is more scared than them.This psychology can be very powerful and can result in Jordan and Bird like performances.

Most of the time I think pro athletes have their emotions mastered and that’s what makes them pros.In Lebrons case, I think, he’s just not had that great game in the ultimate situation yet, but I don’t think he’s ever really shrunk from anything emotionally, though that’s the rap on him.He just needs to develop a corner three.

Oh god. This is armchair psychology. I’m trying so hard not to sound arrogant, but “flow” is an observed phenomenon, and your individual “I think” is not.

Spree8nyk8: You’re right he’s being labeled that way for no reason at all…../sarcasm

He didn’t get that label in the post season last year, he got it during the regular season when Miami really never seemed to win any close games.

Cherry-picking.

82 games describes it as “4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points”. Doesn’t that seem a bit broad? The first basket of overtime is “clutch?”

Ultimately it’s a label that we create and assign subjectively. Michael Jordan WAS clutch because he won REPEATEDLY when everything was on the line. Patrick Ewing was not, because he missed an easy finger roll and got dominated by Hakeem in 94. Maybe if Jordan didn’t play with Pippen and Grant/Rodman, and Ewing did, we’d think the opposite.

Who cares? Part of the fun of sports is assigning hero (or goat) status to these humans because we can. Not everything needs to be reduced to a statistical observation, ffs.

It’s only a problem if you’re making personnel decisions based on ‘clutchness’ which seems so subjective as to be potentially harmful.

nicos:
Scroll through the clutch stats for the last few years at 82games.com- the idea that Lebron sucks in the clutch is ridiculous.Even in a down year (for him) he was still better than Wade last year: http://www.82games.com/1011/CSORT11.HTM
His numbers with the Cavs were pretty amazing considering that everyone knew what was coming and still couldn’t stop him.He had a bad series against the Mavs, one bad game against the Celtics a couple of years ago and people want to label him a choker which considering how much success he’s had in playoffs seems crazy to me.

You’re right he’s being labeled that way for no reason at all…../sarcasm

He didn’t get that label in the post season last year, he got it during the regular season when Miami really never seemed to win any close games.

daJudge:
Doesn’t clutch just mean that some players perform better under pressure and some don’t?Isn’t this measurable with a proper sample and controls? Surely this can be quantified.

part of the problem is that every situation is a bit different. even if the score is exactly the same, the opponent is the same, the shot is the same, the defense is the same (and of course that never happens), the team’s record and position in the season is different.