All-Time Clutch Playoff Players by the Numbers!

[WilyWestbrook0]

I went through a huge study where I compared all-time great (and current star) players' lifetime seasonal averages to their lifetime playoff averages in the following key categories:

Points Per Game, Rebounds Per Game, Assists Per Game, Field Goal %, Free Throw %

It's difficult to have better stats in the playoffs because you are playing better teams. In the season, players play all kinds of bad teams, but you can't do that in the playoffs. Therefore, I consider a clutch player as any player who goes up in three of the five key stat categories in the playoffs compared to their seasonal averages.

Here are the results --

SUPER CLUTCH (exceptionally rare)

Cliff Hagan - UP in ALL 5 (and NO ONE remembers this guy; what a pity!)
Hakeem Olajuwon - UP in ALL 5 (most clutch player of all-time, even more than Russell)

VERY CLUTCH

Joe Dumars - UP in 4 (Finals MVP for a reason!)
Tim Duncan - UP in 4 (that's why he has four rings)
Walt Frazier - UP in 4 (easily best of the Knicks' two titles)
Hal Greer - UP in 4 (and Wilt said he didn't have help!?!? C'MON!)
Elvin Hayes - UP in 4 (and Wes Unseld gets the MVP - WTH!?!? MOST UNDERRATED EVER!!!)
LeBron James - UP in 4 (guess he's not a choker after all, eh?)
Dennis Johnson - UP in 4 (no wonder he won titles with two different teams)
Tracy McGrady - UP in 4 (guess it's not his fault he hasn't gotten out in the 1st round!)
Steve Nash - UP in 4 (also not his fault his teams haven't gone far in the playoffs)
Doc Rivers - UP in 4 (clutch player becomes clutch coach!)
Bill Russell - UP in 4 (no small wonder he is the winningest player of all-time)
Dominique Wilkins - UP in 4 (vastly underrated)
James Worthy - UP in 4 (earned nickname of "Big Game James")

CLUTCH

Mark Aguirre - up in 3
Ray Allen - up in 3, same in 1 (easily the most clutch of Boston's current big three)
Paul Arizin - up in 3
Mike Bibby - up in 3
Chauncey Billups - up in 3
Larry Bird - up in 3 (like MJ, a little overrated, but still clutch)
Vince Carter - up in 3 (too bad he is on mediocre teams)
Maurice Cheeks - up in 3
Alex English - up in 3, same in 1 (too bad he played on crappy teams)
George Gervin - up in 3 (see English above)
John Havlicek - up in 3, same in 1
Tom Heinsohn - up in 3
Michael Jordan - up in 3 (like Bird, a little overrated, but still clutch)
Kevin McHale - up in 3
Dirk Nowitzki - up in 3 (this REALLY surprises me - I thought he was a big choker!)
Lamar Odom - up in 3 (I thought he was a choker; apparently not!)
Robert Parish - up in 3 (all four of the '80s top Celtics are clutch!)
Isiah Thomas - up in 3
Dwyane Wade - up in 3

BORDERLINE CLUTCH

Charles Barkley - up in 2, down in 2, same in 1
Kobe Bryant - up in 2, down in 2, same in 1
Clyde Drexler - up in 2, down in 2, same in 1
Magic Johnson - up in 2, down in 2, same in 1 (overrated as clutch player; Worthy better)
Jason Kidd - up in 2, down in 2, same in 1
Moses Malone - up in 2, down in 2, same in 1

NOT CLUTCH

Bob Cousy - DOWN in 3 (not the player Russell and Havlicek were!)
Julius Erving - DOWN in 3, up in 1, same in 1
Patrick Ewing - DOWN in 3 (dominated by Mr. Hakeem)
Pau Gasol - DOWN in 3, up in 1, same in 1
Allen Iverson - DOWN in 3 (only made Finals once; can see why)
Paul Pierce - DOWN in 3 (good thing the Celtics had great team defense)
Scottie Pippen - DOWN in 3 (as expected, MJ was the man)
Willis Reed - DOWN in 3 (all that feel-good crap about his injury is overrated)
Jerry Sloan - DOWN in 3 (players take after their coach?)
John Stockton - DOWN in 3
Amare Stoudemire - DOWN in 3
Bill Walton - DOWN in 3

REALLY NOT CLUTCH

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - DOWN in 4 (nice to ride the coattails of Worthy and Magic)
Carmelo Anthony - DOWN in 4 (biggest choker of 2003 draft superstar big three)
Nate Archibald - DOWN in 4
Rick Barry - DOWN in 4 (how the hayl did he win a title?)
Elgin Baylor - DOWN in 4 (no wonder Boston dominated his teams)
Wilt Chamberlain - DOWN in 4 (a choker as everyone suspected!)
Tom Chambers - DOWN in 4
Kevin Garnett - DOWN in 4 (sorry KG, you are not the man)
Gail Goodrich - DOWN in 4
Karl Malone - DOWN in 4 (no wonder Utah never won!)
Stephon Marbury - DOWN in 4 (shouldn't surprise anyone, LOL)
Yao Ming - DOWN in 4 (his fault, not Tracy's)
Earl Monroe - DOWN in 4 (thank Walt Frazier for your one title)
Bob Pettit - DOWN in 4
Oscar Robertson - DOWN in 4 (like Wilt, great gaudy stats until it mattered)
David Robinson - DOWN in 4, same in 1 (almost down in 5; no wonder Hakeem owned him!)
Byron Scott - DOWN in 4, same in 1
Otis Thorpe - DOWN in 4 (thank Hakeem Olajuwon for your one title)
Wes Unseld - DOWN in 4 (AND ELVIN HAYES DIDN'T WIN FINALS MVP!?!?!?!? WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?)
Antoine Walker - DOWN in 4 (no wonder he and Pierce couldn't win together)
Jerry West - DOWN in 4 (Mr. Clutch, huh? LOL!!!!!)
Lenny Wilkens - DOWN in 4

CHOKE ARTIST SUPREME

Sam Cassell - DOWN in ALL 5 (uh, clutch overrated much?)
Adrian Dantley - DOWN in ALL 5
Artis Gilmore - DOWN in ALL 5
Tim Hardaway - DOWN in ALL 5 (check Mullin below as well)
Spencer Haywood - DOWN in ALL 5
Grant Hill - DOWN in ALL 5 (his choker status is deserved)
Bob McAdoo - DOWN in ALL 5
Chris Mullin - DOWN in ALL 5 (him and Tim were quite the choke duo!)
Dennis Rodman - DOWN in ALL 5 (quite obviously rode coattails of other players, LOL!)
Rudy Tomjanovich - DOWN in ALL 5 (good thing he was a clutch coach)

[sportzluvr1]

did you call jordan overrated? hilarious.

[nadeau01_johnson48]

Look at that....LeBron James-VERY CLUTCH.

Go ahead Dan, twist it so it's not true.

[WilyWestbrook0]

The media acts as if Bird and MJ were clutch playoff gods who were pefect in every way. Yes, they were clutch, but compared to guys like Hakeem and Russell who went up in 4 and 5 categories, they are not as clutch. I am speaking in terms of who is overrated in terms of clutch playoff performance only.

[sportzluvr1]

The media acts as if Bird and MJ were clutch playoff gods who were pefect in every way. Yes, they were clutch, but compared to guys like Hakeem and Russell who went up in 4 and 5 categories, they are not as clutch. I am speaking in terms of who is overrated in terms of clutch playoff performance only.

I can give you 6 reason why MJ is more clutch in the playoffs than Hakeem Olajuwon

[WilyWestbrook0]

People could argue this topic perpetually to defend their favorite players and teams. I'm sure a Celtics fan will come in here and get all offended that I referred to Bird as less clutch than what the media says, but remember this is just a limited statistical category comparison. I am just gauging these stats against what I subjectively believe the media portrays. These stats don't take a lot of other things into account, such as team defense (in 1995-96, for instance, the Bulls as a team gave up 92.9 points per game, but in the playoffs their defense gave up only 86.8, so their defense got better by six points per game!). Just take it for what you will as but one small insight into how clutch a player might be as an individual.

[garnett_21]

Kevin Garnett - DOWN in 4 (sorry KG, you are not the man)

Not surprising though, as he was the only good player on the Wolves in every playoff appearance, so all the opponent had to do was double team KG and they would win the game.

BTW - very nice study! Surprising to see some of these names where they are!

[WilyWestbrook0]

Yeah, I was sad to see how much Grant Hill and Antoine Walker dipped, lol.

This study did take a lot of time, and while stats are limited and can't reveal everything, it's made me think twice about how I used to view some players (Dirk Nowitzki, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, etc.).

Also not mentioned is how enormous some players' drop-offs are. Big 'Dipper' Wilt's scoring average dipped from 30.1 to 22.5 in the playoffs..geez.

[garnett_21]

Also not mentioned is how enormous some players' drop-offs are. Big 'Dipper' Wilt's scoring average dipped from 30.1 to 22.5 in the playoffs..geez.

Aye! Well, seeing the "greats of the game" numbers go down isn't surprising, especially in a 4+ game series - the defense figures it out, and double/triple teams them.

[gladdyontherise]

Did Brick win his team a championship, how clutch was he in the finals when the Spurs shut him down???

Nice reseach but like all research, you have to look more into things than just stats