[Highlight] The Los Angeles Lakers have the best clutch record in the NBA at 20-6, which are games that are within five points in the last five minutes. Check out some of their best clutch moments this season.
Because the only time I see this team locked in on D is at the last minutes of the game. Before the winning streak atleast.
Those lose streak or whatever it was we had weeks ago, the players wouldnt even bother to give any effort 1st-3rd Q.
That losing streak also coincided with us having injuries throughout the front court. And having to play Vando.
Vando played too much so he couldn’t be on the bench being the glue vibes guy is 100% the reason for the losing streak. đ¤
Worked for the Pacers last year
So we’re taking OKC to 7?
Understood.
And win it, bros
This is crazy levels of cuckdom
Haliburton was on some Brady shit at the end of games.. Never seen anything like that.
5 minutes is crazy. They need to measure that by 3min mark. Or 2 min.
“wipes hands on shirt”
Agreed. Like is a game thatâs 115-120 with exactly 5 minutes left that quickly balloons to 115-130 with 3 minutes left still considered a âclutch gameâ?
I wondered this too, because a 8 point lead w 3 left is still an open game but when is it considered not?
this would effect every team still and lakers still #1
Up 6 with possession of the ball under a minute being clutch is fucking idiotic lmaooooooooooo
That LeBron celly is so damn tough
LeBron giving up his streak to pass the game winner to Rui was one of the most beautiful moments of the season
No other team has 3 guys who can create shots for themselves and others in iso situations like Luka/AR/Bron. Luka is arguably #1 in the league at this, arguable with Jokic and maybe SGA. AR has turned into a crazy good iso offence creator for a #2, and even at 41 years old LeBron can make a tonne happen for a #3.
Clutch time, when teams are playing at maximum defensive effort, and refs shallow the whistles a bit, is when the game gets more iso heavy, always has been. Or even when itâs not pure isos, there tends to be a higher reliance on creating offence out of nothing off the dribble; the quick passing/screens/catch and shoot offences tend to work less consistently when the defence is turned up to 11. Not surprising that more iso-ish clutch time situations is where the Lakers shine the most.
Other things:
This just reminded me of Marcus Smart and the sweaty headband incident đ
Mike Breen GOAT
Luka effect
Luka for clutch player of the year
Does this bode well for the playoffs?đ¤
Absolutely not
what the fuck was that thing sliding across the screen in the last clip?
Lakers gotta be beaten before the last 5 min or they win lol
In tennis I call this one “the Kei Nishikori” or “the Andy Murray”, because those guys have great 5-set match records but the reality is they never should’ve let the match get that close in the first place
It reminds me of the 2023 Nuggets, where they were great in closing games.
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That’s 107-107 in the last 5 mins. That shot was more of a dagger to end it
With 1 minute left. It was tied with 5 minutes left, the Rockets took a 2 point lead, then the Lakers took a 2 point lead until 1:30 left when the Lakers finally got a 6 point lead
No
Up 6 with the ball under a minute left being considered “clutch time” is what makes this stat look bloated lmaooooooooooo
Its always been a bloated stat.
I remember when a clutch shot was when a player hit a shot that would win or tie the game in the last two possession of the game.
The ONLY true clutch stat is the one where it’s tie game or one possession game under 24 on the game clock. Anything other than that isn’t true clutch time.
It’s really strange that suddenly the refs are endorsing the Lakers hacking and fouling constantly without being called, simiar to OKC because of whatever reasons.
The oe-sided officiating was readily apparent in Houston last night.
It’s hard to be clutch when the rest of their games are complete blowouts either way.
How many of those games were against over .500 teams though?
Youâre a little late for that narrative
Can you all keep these posts in the Lakers sub? Literally no one cares except you Lakers fans.
I am so sorry that you had to see and respond to this post
And yet here you are caring enough to read and post
Letâs see it in the playoffs
We bringing that pacers magic this year
he did not stutter
Mf was proud of that too
And then Ayton goes to Rockets but they need to stretch and waive KD to make it work
lol. Lmao
You can appreciate the great plays/shots in the moment, but the ‘This team is incredible in the clutch’ title rarely ends well. It’s never sustainable. The Nuggets were so good in the clutch that Thinking Basketball did a video about it, this season they have a -12 net rating in the clutch.
They have been doing it for the whole season though.
The lakers are undeniably doing great right now, but the beginning of the season was just yâall losing leads then trying again lol.
Half your clutch wins shoulda been blow outs lol
They weirdly have the second fewest number of clutch games this season with 26. Only the Wizards have fewer with 24.
actually the beginning of the year was a lot like this. It was the middle of the season where things got rocky. Roughly speaking the first 20ish games were solid. The next 40ish games they pretty much played .500 basketball. And they’re on track for the last 20 games to be similar to the first 20.
So what? Do people actually think that there is some inherent quality in a âclutchâ team that makes them better in the clutch? The sample sizes here are way too small to draw any actual conclusion from. They could bring back the exact same team next year and could be the worst clutch team in the league.
And they could also bring back the exact same team next season and go 35-0 so I donât understand what that has to do with their clutch record this year which the title is simply pointing out. No one is saying Lakers are the best team in the world because of their clutch record. OP is just pointing out the record and showing highlights.
So do a lot of teams. Can they do it for 48 minutes?
Youâre acting like theyâre bums. Theyâre 6th in the league so yes over a 48 minute game theyâre one of the best teams in the league.
They’re 14th in net-rating, between the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks. Yes they have a good record, a lot of it due to a 20-6 clutch record which makes up for a 24-19 record outside of those games. I’m not acting like they’re bums, I’m saying that the clutch rating is cool, it’s fun basketball and you respect the plays and shot making, but it’s not a reliable indicator of a great basketball team especially when paired with mediocre performance outside of the clutch.
14th in net rating a bad record against winning teams. Basically, they struggle to beat good teams (playoff teams) and beat bad teams in the clutch.
24 Mavs it was sustainable
Was it sustainable for the 2024 Nuggets (lost in the playoffs to a team with the 27th best clutch rating that regular season), or the 2024 Bulls (finished with 39 wins, lost in the play-in) both of whom had better clutch net ratings than the Mavericks (who had a -4.8 net rating in the clutch in those playoffs)?
Yeah this is unfortunately one of those scenarios where basketball is indeed played on a spreadsheet
They’re gonna get torched by the Nuggets
Thereâs a reason why net rating is the best predictor of post season success.
Yep. And a lot of Lakers fans did this whole thing last season dismissing the Thunder who were casually walking about with one of the best net ratings in NBA history, up there with the 2024 Celtics who people also dismissed.
Gonna copy/paste my comment from elsewhere. Clutch play may be nearly as good as net ratings to determine success.
2025: Celtics (Second Round - Tatum Injury)
2024: Lakers (First Round)
2023: Bucks (First Round - Giannis Injury)
2022: Suns (Second Round)
2021: Sixers (Second Round)
2020: Bucks (Second Round)
2019: Nuggets (Second Round)
2018: Rockets (WCF)
2017: Spurs (WCF)
2016: Warriors (Finals)
2015: Warriors (Champions)
2014: Spurs (Champions)
2013: Heat (Champions)
2012: Bulls (First Round)
2011: Bulls (ECF)
2010: Mavericks (First Round)
2009: Lakers (Champions)
Basically a who’s who of contenders of each era. 23% of teams that lead the league in clutch win percentage won the championship. And just under half made the conference finals. 12 of the 17 teams listed made the Finals in the next year or the year prior.
This is a list of teams who either were good for all 48 minutes, clutch play included and went on to do great things, or teams that farmed a lot of wins with clutch play and crashed out pretty badly in the playoffs. Which camp, between those teams from 2019 to now and those pre-2019, do you think the Lakers fall into?
As far as I know, only the 2023 Nuggets didn’t have a top 5 Net Rating and won the title in the past 15 years. Probably 2011 Dallas qualifies there too.
The table you just posted really pales in comparison to that data.
Three champions vs nine first out second round exits. Without sitting down and doing a regression analysis I think you made my point for me.
There are 4x as many second round exit teams than champions.
Second Round - Tatum Injury
knicks were winning that series with tatum playing, so
Basically a who’s who of contenders of each era. So no. 23% of teams that lead the league in clutch win percentage won the championship. And just under half made the conference finals. 12 of the 17 teams listed made the Finals in the next year or the year prior.
Difference is the majority of those teams were good outside of the clutch as well. The Warriors being the last team to win the championship while also having the best clutch record is a product of them being extremely good at all phases of play. If your record without clutch games is 24-19, you are not earning a comparison to those pre-2019 teams. And 2020-2025, respectfully, is a pretty big list of fraudulent teams - it wasn’t the Tatum injury that cost the Celtics, they were being well handled when he was healthy.
Injuries. Reaves got injured right as LeBron was acclimating after coming back. And came back right before the All-Star break. Since then the Lakers are 8th in Net Rating, 11th in defensive rating, and 6th in offensive rating.
Well for sure if one thing is sustainable and predictive for success it’s post all star basketball that represents a sudden peak in performance.
They are fraudulent. Have virtually no chance vs OKC, San Antonio or Boston
Unless it’s 7 games in the clutch
They arenât winning 3 games against either OKC or SA. They have nobody to stay in front of speedy guards. Meanwhile OKC has an entire roster to throw at Luka and Reaves
Luka already beat OKC once
OKC is better than that iteration and the Lakers are worse than the Mavs. They have no depth
That was a very different team without iHart and Caruso and JDub and Chet were toddlers in the league, and MJ Washington is the one who beat the Thunder
I would make the argument that they would probably have a good chance against San Antonio. The only time they faced each other while each side was healthy the Lakers actually won. It would be alot closer then you think. As for okc and boston I would definitely favor them over the lakers but it wouldn’t be a sweep or 5 games either. Playoffs is about matchups more so then depth so depth sort of becomes obsolete.
Who gives af just give flowers to some in season success damn. Negative ass mf
These people donât even like basketball I swear
Nobody cares about regular season success. Remember the 2014 Atlanta Hawks?