|
|
As of March 23rd, NBA teams have played less than 100 minutes of clutch time this season, and the Oklahoma City Thunder is one of them. Clutch time, as defined by the NBA, refers to the final 5 minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within 5 points and either team has a chance to win. As of March 23rd, the six teams with less than 100 minutes of accumulated clutch time are the Los Angeles Clippers (99 minutes in 33 games), the Thunder (99 minutes in 32 games), the Washington Wizards (86 minutes in 29 games), the Dallas Mavericks (99 minutes in 28 games), the New Orleans Pelicans (79 minutes in 24 games), and the New York Knicks (77 minutes in 27 games). Compared to the Chicago Bulls, who have played the most clutch time minutes with 185 in 39 games, and the league average of 118 minutes, these teams have significantly fewer clutch time minutes.
The amount of clutch time does not necessarily correlate with a team's record. However, theoretically, teams with better overall records should have better offensive quality in clutch time, leading to higher winning probabilities. Let's take a quick look at the Thunder's performance in clutch time this season:
- In the 32 games with clutch time, the Thunder have a record of 20 wins and 12 losses, with a winning percentage of 62.5%, which is lower than their overall winning percentage. This places them 6th in the league in clutch time winning percentage. The team with the most clutch time wins is the Denver Nuggets (25 wins, 12 losses), and the team with the highest winning percentage is the Dallas Mavericks (71.4%).
- The Thunder have a team field goal percentage of 52.8% in clutch time, ranking 2nd in the league, just behind (surprisingly) the Denver Nuggets with 55.4%.
- The Thunder's overall field goal percentage in clutch time (>52.8%) is higher than their overall field goal percentage (>50.0%). However, their three-point field goal percentage in clutch time (<35.9%) is lower than their overall three-point field goal percentage (<39.2%), and the proportion of three-point attempts in clutch time has decreased by 6.5% compared to the overall game (from 38.4% to 35.9%). Despite being the team with the highest three-point field goal percentage in the league, the Thunder rely more on inside attacks during clutch time.
- This is, of course, related to the attacking style of their ace player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (SGA). Three-point shooting is not SGA's most threatening offensive weapon. However, what's even more interesting is: SGA is not the most efficient offensive player for the Thunder in clutch time!
- Overall, SGA scored the most points for the Thunder in clutch time this season, accounting for 98 of the team's total 284 points. The second highest scorer is Jalen Williams (63 points), followed by Chet Holmgren (59 points), and Luguentz Dort (19 points) at fourth place, only accounting for 6.7% of the 284 points. Clearly, the Thunder's offense in crunch time is highly concentrated on SGA, J-Dub, and Holmgren. This is not surprising, as they all have shooting percentages of >54%, with SGA and J-Dub even >60%, making them reliable offensive options.
- However, when we further divide the Thunder's 99 minutes of clutch time into situations where they are leading or trailing, some interesting observations emerge: when the team is leading, both SGA and J-Dub have shooting percentages of >70%, which is also the key to the Thunder's performance in crunch time, making it much more stable than before. However, when the team is trailing, SGA still takes the most shots but has the lowest shooting percentage (48.6%), while J-Dub becomes more reliable (shooting percentage of 62.5%), along with Holmgren (57.7%).
- In these trailing clutch time situations, SGA has the most assists on the team, with a total of 11. His 18 assists in overall clutch time situations are also the most on the team, with a steady assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.5:1.
- Among players who have played in more than 30 games with clutch time this season, SGA ranks second in assists per minute in clutch time, only behind James Harden and Damian Lillard. |
|
Post time 5-4-2024 17:36:54
